Independent deputy Leyla Zana, who is charged with “praising a crime and criminal” in a speech she made during Nevruz celebrations inDiyarbakır in 2007, has taken advantage of the third judicial package. The court decided to adjourn Zana’s case on July 17.

Leyla Zana, who is on trial without arrest, did not attend a hearing in the Diyarbakır Sixth Court for Serious Crimes, while her lawyer Mesut Beştaş was present. The public prosecutor demanded Zana’s case be reviewed within the scope of the third judicial package. “Even though a public case was opened against the defendant on the charge of ‘praising a crime and criminal’ on the grounds of Article 215/1 of the Turkish Penal Code, the court has decided to adjourn the trial since the action of the convict was within the scope of the provisions of Law no. 6352,” the prosecutor said.

Furthermore, the court has decided to drop Zana’s case “as long as she does not commit a crime through media devices or expression of thoughts requiring a fine or a prison sentence with an upper limit of not more than five years,” within three years. Zana, deputy from the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, was charged with a two-year prison sentence on the grounds that she made “propaganda of a terrorist organization” in a speech she made during Nevruz celebrations in 2007.

Source: Daily News