Selahattin Demirtas, a former co-chair of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HPD) on Monday was sentenced to three years and a half in jail for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Anadolu Agency reported
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd March, 2021) Selahattin Demirtas, a former co-chair of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HPD) on Monday was sentenced to three years and a half in jail for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Anadolu Agency reported.
Demirtas was arrested in 2016 on terrorism-related charges along with a dozen other HDP lawmakers as Ankara suspected that the party members had ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is recognized as a terrorist group in Turkey.
In 2018, the former HDP co-chair was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for spreading "terrorist propaganda" and public incitement to hatred. The European Union has previously called on Turkey to release Demirtas.
Last week, a Turkish prosecutor filed a case with the country's top court seeking a ban on HDP activity over the party's ties with PKK.
