US embassy cable - 04ANKARA3206

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 003206 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, TU 
SUBJECT: COURT RELEASES ZANA, CO-DEFENDANTS; APPEAL 
CONTINUES 
 
 
REF: ANKARA 2294 AND PREVIOUS 
 
 
Classified by Deputy Polcouns Charles O. Blaha; reasons 1.4 b 
and d. 
 
 
1. (U) Turkey's High Court of Appeals June 9 ordered the 
release of Leyla Zana and three other Kurdish former MPs 
pending the outcome of their appeal.  The Court made its 
decision one day after the defendants' attorney filed a 
formal release request.  The Court is scheduled to take up 
the appeal July 8. 
 
 
2. (U) The defendants -- Zana, Hatip Dicle, Orhan Dogan, and 
Selim Sadak -- are all former MPs of the now-banned 
pro-Kurdish-independence Democracy Party.  They were 
convicted of being members of the PKK and sentenced to 15 
years each by an Ankara State Security Court (SSC) in a 
controversial 1994 trial.  The European Court of Human Rights 
(ECHR) ruled in 2001 that the 1994 trial was unfair, and a 
retrial was granted in March 2003 following GOT enactment of 
an EU-related reform under which ECHR rulings are grounds for 
a possible retrial in a Turkish Court.  On April 21, 2004, an 
Ankara SSC re-convicted the defendants, upholding the 1994 
ruling.  The defense appealed. 
 
 
3. (C) At each session of the 13-month retrial, lead defense 
attorney Yusuf Alatas requested that the court release the 
defendants pending the outcome of the retrial.  The court 
refused each request, prompting Alatas to argue repeatedly 
that the court was biased against his clients and failed to 
acknowledge the ECHR ruling in their favor.  Turkish human 
rights activists and outside observers criticized the court's 
conduct.  A number of EU officials warned GOT leaders in 
private that the defendants' continued imprisonment damaged 
Turkey's image in Europe.  Egemen Bagis, AK Party MP and 
foreign policy advisor to PM Erdogan, confided to us recently 
that the GOT recognized the political impact of the issue and 
had tried unsuccessfully to persuade the court to release the 
defendants during retrial. 
 
 
4. (U) On June 7, the High Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor 
submitted a written opinion to the Court calling for the 
defendants' conviction to be overturned on the grounds of 
irregularities in the retrial.  The document was leaked to 
the press.  The prosecutor's opinion is not binding on the 
court. 
 
 
5. (U) The defendants were convicted under the Anti-Terror 
Law, which requires that convicts serve three-fourths of 
their sentence.  Based on the dates of their original 
incarcerations, the sentences for Zana, Dicle and Dogan would 
expire in March 2005, and Sadak's sentence would expire in 
October 2005. 
 
 
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Comment 
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6. (C) It appears likely that the Appeals Court will overturn 
the conviction and make this release permanent.  Though the 
prosecutor's opinion is non-binding, prosecutors and judges 
in Turkey usually work together in lock step, particularly in 
SSC cases.  It is highly unusual for a prosecutor's written 
opinion to be leaked to the press.  The GOT is under intense 
EU pressure on this issue, and the quickest way to relieve 
that pressure is to release the defendants.  Though the legal 
process continues, European interest will wane once Zana et 
al are no longer behind bars. 
 
 
 
 
EDELMAN