Kurdish politician Mehmet Çakas received a prison sentence of two years and 10 months from the Celle Higher Regional Court in Germany on Wednesday, igniting protests over the contentious use of anti-terror law against Kurdish activists.
This verdict follows charges under Section 129b of the German Criminal Code, which alleges terrorism due to Çakas’s political activities. Having already spent over 16 months in detention, Çakas will serve a further 18 months.
The ruling triggered demonstrations outside the courthouse, where protesters decried what they perceived as the German state’s criminalisation of the Kurdish community. Placards demanding “Freedom for Çakas” were displayed, while a spokesperson for the Çakas family claimed that the trial was an attack not only on the individual but on the broader Kurdish struggle for autonomy.
Mehmet Çakas, one of 11 political prisoners detained in Germany for political engagements, faced charges under the controversial Section 129b. After his asylum application was rejected in Germany and a subsequent request for political asylum in Italy, Çakas was arrested in December 2022 at the behest of the German authorities and extradited back to Germany in March 2023.
Throughout the trial, Çakas vehemently denied the terrorism allegations, criticising the charges as demeaning and an attack on his dignity. He argued that the accusations were a way to legitimise and whitewash what he described as genocide, highlighting his unwavering commitment to basic rights and legal standards.
Meanwhile, German journalist Peter Nowak highlighted that over a single month, German higher regional courts sentenced three other Kurdish activists to prison for alleged membership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK): Sabri Çimen in Koblenz received three years, Tahir Köçer in Munich got two years and five months, while Ali Özel in Frankfurt was sentenced to four years.
The trials have drawn criticism for their rapid pace and harsh outcomes, described metaphorically as “assembly-line judgements” by the Kurdish legal aid fund Azadi. The legal initiative warned that Germany’s broad application of anti-terrorism laws, particularly Section 129b, criminalises legitimate political activities, especially targeting the Kurdish community.
The convicted individuals, aged between 50 and 60, share a history of political persecution, imprisonment and torture in Turkey. Azadi accused the German government of assisting the Erdoğan regime through legal mechanisms established in 2011 that facilitate these prosecutions. During the ‘Political Prisoners: Isolation, ill-treatment and torture’ conference in the European Parliament on Thursday, lawyer Roland Meister stated that court documents from the trials revealed monthly high-level meetings between German and Turkish police authorities.
🔴Conclusion issued following the ‘#PoliticalPrisoners: #Isolation, ill-treatment and torture’ event at the European Parliament in #Brussels (https://t.co/zN5hsc1mj9) pic.twitter.com/h6dwFxuiOv
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