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Turkish justice minister opposed to
foreign trial for Kurdish rebel Ocalan
6.6.2005
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ISTANBUL, June 5 (AFP) - 15h22 - Turkish Justice
Minister Cemil Cicek said Sunday he was opposed to a
retrial of jailed Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah
Ocalan taking place in a foreign country, Anatolia
news agency reported.
Cicek said he had not received any request to move
the trial overseas and that such a move was
"inconceivable."
Last month the European Court of Human Rights ruled
that the Kurdish leader should be retried on grounds
that his 1999 trial, in which he was sentenced to
death for treason, was unfair. That sentenced was
commuted to life in prison in 2002.
Turkish authorities said they would abide by the
European court ruling.
But in order for a new trial to take place Ocalan
must request it and he has refused to do so on
grounds he would not receive a fair trial in Turkey,
according to his lawyers.
On Wednesday, Ocalan, who was head of the separatist
Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), said through his
lawyers that he wanted to be tried outside of Turkey
by a special tribunal set up by the Council of
Europe.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by
Turkey and a number of Western countries including
the United States. Between 1984 and 1999 the
separatist rebels waged an armed struggle against
Turkish forces in which about 37,000 people died.
AFP
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