STIFFER SENTENCES FOR DHKP-C CONVICTS

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 003761 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PGOV BE TU SUBJECT: STIFFER SENTENCES FOR DHKP-C CONVICTS ¶1. On November 7, the judge of the Ghent Appellate Court strengthened sentences given earlier this year to three DHKP-C militants under Belgium's 2003 anti-terrorism statute. Nine DHKP- C militants had appeared in court facing charges of belonging to criminal and terrorist organizations, an offense under Belgium's 2003 anti-terrorism statute; they were also charged with arms possession and use of forged documents. By confirming the 2003 law's validity, the court decision provides an opening for prosecutors to move more aggressively against suspected terrorists. ¶2. Dursun Karatas, the secretary general of the DHKP-C in Belgium, was identified as belonging to a criminal and terrorist organization and was sentenced by the Ghent Appellate Court to an additional seventh year imprisonment. Musa Asoglu was identified as the leader of a terrorist organization and the Ghent judge handed down seven years imprisonment, instead of his original six year sentence. Bahar Kimyongur, the DHKP-C spokesman in Belgium, had received four years imprisonment by the Bruges First Instance Court. The court tacked on an extra year to his term also. ¶3. The Ghent Appellate Court judge upheld the acquittal of two suspects. The verdicts concerning the other convicts remained unchanged; i.e., four years imprisonment. Fehriye Erdal is one of the convicts having received an unchanged sentence. She managed to escape while State Security officers were watching. She is still on the run. ¶4. Currently only three convicts are incarcerated. They are locked up in solitary confinement, and two are on a hunger strike. Their legal counsels are seeking a court order to permit their circulation once more in the general prison population. ¶5. Belgian police and prosecutors had told us prior to the verdict that many future actions on their part depended on what the court said. Now that the court has spoken, prosecutors claim they are eager to get moving on other cases. The courts have earlier upheld the conviction of GICM members under the 2003 law. KOROLOGOS