Kurdish former political party leader who insulted Erdogan faces life in jail

Selahattin Demirtas faces the longest sentence given to date on the charge of insulting the president

A demonstrator holds a scarf with an image of Selahattin Demirtas, a jailed former co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Istanbul, Turkey, March 20, 2021. Reuters.

The former co-leader of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) has been sentenced to 3-1/2 years in jail for insulting the president, his lawyer said.

Selahattin Demirtas is already in jail awaiting a final verdict, but could face life imprisonment based on separate charges related to protests in 2014.

The sentence against Mr Demirtas came less than a week after a top prosecutor filed a lawsuit demanding a ban on the HDP.

The move followed months of intensified calls from President Tayyip Erdogan's nationalist allies for the HDP to be banned for alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The HDP denies the charges and has called the move a "political coup."

Ramazan Demir, a lawyer for Mr Demirtas, said on Twitter that Monday's sentence was one of the longest given on the charge of insulting the president, which is a crime in Turkey.

He said the court disregarded a European Court of Human Rights ruling, which called for Mr Demirtas' immediate release saying his detention was a cover for limiting pluralism.

Mr Demirtas had criticised Mr Erdogan in a speech in December 2015, saying the president had "fluttered from corridor to corridor" during a conference in Paris, hoping to have a picture taken with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Those comments came after Turkish forces shot down a Russian warplane over Syria, when ties between the countries were at their worst since the end of the Cold War.

"My only regret over the speech is that I said too little," Mr Demirtas told the court, according his lawyer.

Mr Demirtas, one of Turkey's most prominent politicians who has been in jail for 4-1/2 years, could face a life sentence if convicted in the main case against him related to 2014 protests in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

Last week, Turkey's parliament also stripped prominent HDP deputy and human rights advocate Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu of his seat after he was found guilty of spreading terrorist propaganda for sharing a news link on Twitter.

The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union. It has fought an insurgency against the state in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

_______________

Gallery: student protests in Turkey 

Students and staff face riot police in a protest against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to appoint Melih Bulu, a businessman with ties to the president's AK Party, as rector at Bogazici University in Istanbul. EPA

Turkish riot police use plastic bullets against demonstrators at Bogazici University, where students and staff object to Mr Erdogan's decision to appoint a rector, bypassing election by academic staff. The president was empowered to make the appointment by a 2016 law. EPA

Demonstrators flee tear gas at Bogazici University, one of Istanbul's most prestigious institutions. Reuters

Protests against the appointment of AK Party loyalist Melih Bulu as rector of Bogazici University by Mr Erdogan have escalated and opponents of the conservative president have become more vocal. Police made dozens of arrests in Ankara, the Turkish capital. EPA

Protestors at Bogazici University remonstrate with riot police officers. AFP

Confrontation but no violence between a demonstrator and a police office at the Bogazici University protests in Istanbul. EPA

Baris Atay, a Workers' Party of Turkey MP and vocal opponent of Mr Erdogan's AK Party, clashes with police at Bogazici University. AFP

The Turkish government said many of the demonstrators detained at Bogazici University were not from Istanbul. EPA

A lone protester confronts riot police in the streets of Istanbul. AFP

A woman is arrested by police during a protest against the appointment of new Bogazici University rector Melih Bulu. Getty

A protesters rides a motorbike with his dog during a protest in the Kadikoy district in Istanbul. Getty