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Prosecutors oppose retrial of Kurdish
rebel leader 'Ocalan'
20.4.2006
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ANKARA, April 5,
2006 (AFP) - Turkish prosecutors say they cannot
retry Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, serving
a life sentence since 1999, under current law
regardless of a European court finding that he was
unjustly condemned, the Anatolia news agency
reported Wednesday.
Ocalan, leader of the armed separatist Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), asked for a retrial in January
after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
ruled last year that his trial was unfair.
The final decision is up to an Ankara court dealing
with serious criminal and terrorism-related cases.
A possible retrial could unleash fierce public anger
in Turkey, where Ocalan is widely seen as public
enemy number one among many Turks.
Pro-PKK Kurdish youths went on the rampage and
clashed with security forces in several cities in
the southeast and in Istanbul last week, resulting
in 15 deaths, and hundreds of injuries and arrests.
Ocalan, 57, who launched a bloody rebellion in
southeast Turkey in 1984, was condemned to death in
1999 for treason, but his sentence was commuted to
life imprisonment in 2002 after Turkey abolished
capital punishment as part of efforts to align with
European Union norms.
Ocalan's demand for a review of his sentence poses a
legal challenge to the government because current
laws do not allow for his retrial, although Ankara
is under pressure to comply with the rulings of the
Strasbourg-based ECHR.
The ECHR ruled in May that the court that convicted
Ocalan was not impartial because it included a
military judge during part of the trial, and because
Ocalan and his lawyers lacked sufficient time and
opportunity to prepare their defense.
Ankara has said it will respect the ruling, but the
authorities have so far failed to say how they will
proceed.
Officials have said a possible retrial will seek to
correct procedural flaws but cannot result in a
lighter verdict for Ocalan, whose PKK is blacklisted
as a terror group by Ankara, the EU and the United
States.
The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed some
37,000 lives since the PKK took up arms for
self-rule in the predominantly Kurdish southeast in
1984.
AFP
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