|
EU Rights Court To Hear Appeal From Kurdish Leader Ocalan
by Therese Jauffret
STRASBOURG, (AFP) - The European Court of Human Rights agreed Friday to hear an appeal by Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan against the death sentence handed down against him by a Turkish court.
A panel of judges said the court would hear Ocalan's complaint that he had not received a fair trial in Turkey and that his right to life, freedom of expression, religion and other rights had been violated.
The decision amounted to a first-round victory for Ocalan, 51, who has fiercely fought a June 1999 death sentence from his prison cell on the Turkish island of Imrali.
In Ankara, Turkey's Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk immediately downplayed the decision, while Ocalan's lawyers hailed the ruling.
"We are happy with the court's decision. We were expecting it to agree to hear the complaints," attorney Hasip Kaplan said.
The lawyer said that the referral of the case to a panel of 17 judges was an "acknowledgement of the importance of the case and its relation to an international problem".
But the justice minister said the decision by the Strasbourg-based court only meant that the case would be heard. "The court will begin to hear the actual case later," Turk said.
A Turkish court sentenced Ocalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), to death in June 1999 for treason and separatism under the terms of a Turkish law covering "terrorist" acts.
Known to his followers as Apo, Ocalan was captured in February 1999 in Nairobi by Turkish agents in a coup hailed in Ankara as a decisive blow to the PKK's 15-year armed struggle for an independent homeland in southeast Turkey.
A ruling by the court in Strasbourg that Ocalan's rights had been violated would be a blow to Turkey's efforts to gain membership to the European Union and other international institutions.
The Strasbourg judges said they would also examine the claim by Ocalan's lawyers that Turkey's judicial system had convicted him on "an action which did not constitute an offence at the time it was committed," and has been denied the right to "benefit from an effective recourse."
They rejected, however, a petition to examine his complaint that Turkish police had failed to respect "the right of all detained persons to be informed of the reasons for their arrest and all accusations against them."
Kaplan noted that under the court's rules, both sides to the case - Turkey and Ocalan - had the right to appeal within the next 30 days against the decision to turn over the complaints to the higher chamber.
Judges from the Strasbourg court received Ocalan's petition on November 21st when they held a special hearing at the prison island on Imrali, in the north west of Turkey, where he is being held in solitary confinement.
On the same day, more than 18,000 Ocalan supporters marched through the streets of Strasbourg, countered by a 3,000 strong crowd of pro-Turkey protestors.
Though he has a death sentence hanging over him, it is seen as unlikely that Ocalan will be executed as Turkey has pledged to uphold a moratorium on executions.
The moratorium is a condition for Turkey's entry to the EU.
Ocalan went on trial in May and was sentenced to death after about a month of deliberations. A higher Turkish court rejected an appeal against the sentence.
Kurdish exiles staged furious protests outside Turkish embassies in capitals around the world, with several protesters setting themselves on fire.
World leaders appealed to Ankara to show moderation and the EU warned that Turkey's chances of joining were directly linked to its handling of Ocalan's case.
|
