'A court in Turkey has sentenced a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) to ten years in prison on charges of membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group and spreading propaganda as the Ankara government presses ahead with a clampdown on members of the opposition party.
The Diyarbakir 5th High Criminal Court found the defendant, Selma Irmak, guilty of “leading an armed terrorist organization” and “carrying out propaganda activities for terrorist purposes,” Turkish-language NTV television news channel reported on Saturday.
The court said that Irmak was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison over PKK membership, and 2 years and 6 months for promoting its policies.
Her defense lawyer, Erkan Ürküt, denied the charges and demanded his client’s immediate release. He stressed that Irmak was innocent.
The prosecutor had initially sought a 52.5-year jail sentence for the pro-Kurdish legislator.'
Read more: Turkish court sentences opposition HDP lawmaker to 10 years in jail
