Hüseyin Kalkan, Batman mayor from the Democratic Society Party (DTP), has been convicted for praising the pro-Kurdish Roj TV. He had said, “I feel good whenever I come to the Roj TV. The Roj TV is as holy for the Kurds as the cities of Medine and Mecca are for the Muslims.”

Diyarbakır’s 5th High Criminal Court convicted Kalkan to one year in prison in yesterday’s (September 2) hearing for “praising crime and criminal.” Taking into consideration the behavior of the accused during the trial, the court first reduced the sentence to ten months and then converted it to the fine of 9000 YTL (about 4500 Euro).

Lawsuit was filed for “propaganda”, the sentence was for “praising crime”

Kalkan had participated in the reception given for the first year anniversary of the Roj TV in Belgium on March 1 and had made a speech for the occasion.

Kalkan was accused of “making propaganda of a terrorist organization. Later this accusation was changed to “praising the crime and the criminal.”

On April 15, DTP’s fifty-three mayors were convicted for writing a letter to Denmark’s Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to ask him not to close the Roj TV and were fined 1875 YTL (about 950 Euro). (EÖ/EÜ/TB)