July 14, 2014
DIYARBAKIR-AMED, Turkey's Kurdish
region,— A 25-year-old Kurd who is Turkey's youngest
mayor slammed on Monday as "ridiculous" a four-year
jail sentence she was handed for taking part in
protests she claims she did not attend.
A court in the southeastern Kurdish regional capital
Diyarbakir said Monday she had been convicted
because judges believed the profile of her nose and
mouth matched that of a protester filmed at a
violent Kurdish rally.
Rezan Zugurli, who was elected mayor of the Lice
district of Diyarbakir (Amed) in March, was
sentenced to four years and two months in jail in
May for participating in three rallies in 2010 and
2011 in support of the Kurdish rebels.
In their ruling, judges said they believed a
protester filmed throwing stones at police wearing
blue jeans and a khaki-coloured hooded jacket could
be Zugurli because her features looked similar.
But Zugurli, a university student, said the person
in the video was not her and that she had not joined
in any of the protests.
"It's a ridiculous charge. People can look like each
other. I do not accept any of the accusations," she
told AFP.
Zugurli is currently free, pending appeal.
A previous ruling sentencing Zugurli to five
years in jail on terrorism charges -- again for
attending a rally -- was overturned by the appeals
court, which paved the way for her release in June
2013 after 13 months behind bars.
In that case, she was found guilty of on charges of
committing crimes "on behalf of the Kurdistan
Worker's Party (PKK)" the outlawed group which has
waged a deadly insurgency for greater autonomy for
Kurds in southeastern Turkeywww.Ekurd.net
[Northern Kurdistan].
Zugurli, representing the pro-Kurdish Peace and
Democracy Party (BDP), became Turkey's youngest
mayor after victory in March 30 local elections.
Her jailing came despite gestures by Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party that have seen
scores of Kurdish prisoners released in recent
months.
They had been given long jail sentences under
Turkey's draconian anti-terrorism laws, whose broad
wording has led to the jailing of hundreds,
including journalists, politicians and academics.
Regions and cities names in Kurdish may have been changed or added to
the article by Ekurd.net
Copyright ©, respective author or news,
AFP
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