Turkish Court Sends Blind Rights Activist to Jail

[english at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl]

Turkish Court Sends Blind Rights Activist to Jail
                                       
ANKARA, Sept 15 (Reuter) - The Turkish appeals court on Monday
confirmed a sentence against a blind rights activist that would lead
to his imprisonment for more than 20 years.

"Now a sentence of nearly 23 years has been confirmed for me after the
appeal court stage," the activist and lawyer Esber Yagmurdereli who
did not attend the court told Reuters.

He said the court rejected an appeal against a 10-month jail sentence
handed down by a state security court for a speech he made seven years
ago calling for a peaceful solution to the country's long-running
Kurdish conflict. The appeal court decision will automotically bring
into effect a former sentence given to Yagmurdereli for a similar
conviction.

"I was released by another court years ago on the condition that I
would not commit the same crime again and I had 22 years left to serve
from that case," he said.

The 22 years left on Yagmudereli's sentence were conditionally
suspended on his release in 1991.

Yagmurdereli, 52, will stay behind bars a total of almost 23 years
until the year 2019. He is one of several rights workers jailed for
what they said, particularly on the sensitive Kurdish issue.

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"Freedom of expression is under pressure in Turkey. It is everyone's
problem who wants to fight for democracy," Yagmurdereli said, adding
that he would not give up his struggle for human rights.

-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
The Struggle for justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan
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