Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09DUSSELDORF16
2009-04-27 16:14:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Dusseldorf
Cable title:
TRIAL OF GERMAN PKK LEADER HUESEYIN ACAR BEING
how-toVZCZCXRO9975 RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHDF #0016 1171614 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 271614Z APR 09 FM AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0200 INFO RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0007 RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC RUEHDF/AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF 0216
UNCLAS DUSSELDORF 000016
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EUR, S/CT, INR, INL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER KISL PGOV KCRM TU GM
SUBJECT: TRIAL OF GERMAN PKK LEADER HUESEYIN ACAR BEING
REF: A. A) DUSSELDORF 10
B. B) 2008 BERLIN 1694
UNCLAS DUSSELDORF 000016
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EUR, S/CT, INR, INL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER KISL PGOV KCRM TU GM
SUBJECT: TRIAL OF GERMAN PKK LEADER HUESEYIN ACAR BEING
REF: A. A) DUSSELDORF 10
B. B) 2008 BERLIN 1694
1. (U) The trial of alleged Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK)
Germany leader Hueseyin Acar (aka Hueseyin Colak),began on
April 27 in Duesseldorf, the latest in a series of high profile
terrorism cases at the city's Higher Regional Court. German
authorities have charged Acar (49) with leading an international
terrorist organization and coercion, by threatening the life of
a young Kurdish woman who had become pregnant by a PKK member in
Stuttgart. The prosecution claimed that he threatened to kill
her if she did not abort the pregnancy, a form of coercion
reportedly common in the German PKK organization where
punishment for illicit relationships could range from isolation
to banishment to Iraq. The trial is scheduled to last until
August, but could take longer.
2. (U) German authorities arrested Acar in July 2008 in Detmold
in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. The prosecution alleges that
Acar performed management functions for the PKK in Germany,
including finding financing for their activities, recruiting
personnel, and managing the component parts of the organization.
Specifically, Acar is charged with directing a criminal
organization (under section 129 of the German criminal code) and
coercion (section 240). While he was leader, he allegedly had
400 PKK functionaries working under him in Germany. The
prosecution claimed that young members of the PKK continue
carrying out firebombing attacks in Germany, most recently in
February in Wuppertal.
3. (U) When asked to state his ethnicity, Acar surprised the
court by twice affirming that he is not Kurdish but Turkish. He
gave a lengthy opening statement in which he claimed that the
past 31 years of his life, since the December 1978 Maras
Massacre in Turkey, had been a "psychological prison".
4. (U) The long statement came after defense attorneys
challenged the trial venue, arguing that the Sixth Criminal
Division of the Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court was too busy
to properly hear the case. The Sixth Criminal Division created
a special panel to hear this case, as the main group of judges,
headed by Ottmar Breidling, was hearing the higher profile
"Sauerland Cell" terrorism trial (reftel). The court did not
rule on that motion. Acar faces a sentence of ten years in
prison for membership in an international terrorist organization
and between one and one half to five years in prison for the
coercion charge.
5. (SBU) The prosecution of Acar is the latest in a string of
court cases, arrests and investigations that German authorities
are undertaking against the PKK and affiliated groups in
response to heightened concerns over the activities of
Germany-based PKK fund-raisers and supporters. Over the past
year, law enforcement actions including extraditions, arrests,
raids, and investigations of PKK-related groups have been used
to disrupt the PKK's operations in Germany, to target the
current and former leadership, and to shut down PKK-sympathetic
media outlets (see ref B).
6. (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy Berlin.
BOYSE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EUR, S/CT, INR, INL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER KISL PGOV KCRM TU GM
SUBJECT: TRIAL OF GERMAN PKK LEADER HUESEYIN ACAR BEING
REF: A. A) DUSSELDORF 10
B. B) 2008 BERLIN 1694
1. (U) The trial of alleged Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK)
Germany leader Hueseyin Acar (aka Hueseyin Colak),began on
April 27 in Duesseldorf, the latest in a series of high profile
terrorism cases at the city's Higher Regional Court. German
authorities have charged Acar (49) with leading an international
terrorist organization and coercion, by threatening the life of
a young Kurdish woman who had become pregnant by a PKK member in
Stuttgart. The prosecution claimed that he threatened to kill
her if she did not abort the pregnancy, a form of coercion
reportedly common in the German PKK organization where
punishment for illicit relationships could range from isolation
to banishment to Iraq. The trial is scheduled to last until
August, but could take longer.
2. (U) German authorities arrested Acar in July 2008 in Detmold
in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. The prosecution alleges that
Acar performed management functions for the PKK in Germany,
including finding financing for their activities, recruiting
personnel, and managing the component parts of the organization.
Specifically, Acar is charged with directing a criminal
organization (under section 129 of the German criminal code) and
coercion (section 240). While he was leader, he allegedly had
400 PKK functionaries working under him in Germany. The
prosecution claimed that young members of the PKK continue
carrying out firebombing attacks in Germany, most recently in
February in Wuppertal.
3. (U) When asked to state his ethnicity, Acar surprised the
court by twice affirming that he is not Kurdish but Turkish. He
gave a lengthy opening statement in which he claimed that the
past 31 years of his life, since the December 1978 Maras
Massacre in Turkey, had been a "psychological prison".
4. (U) The long statement came after defense attorneys
challenged the trial venue, arguing that the Sixth Criminal
Division of the Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court was too busy
to properly hear the case. The Sixth Criminal Division created
a special panel to hear this case, as the main group of judges,
headed by Ottmar Breidling, was hearing the higher profile
"Sauerland Cell" terrorism trial (reftel). The court did not
rule on that motion. Acar faces a sentence of ten years in
prison for membership in an international terrorist organization
and between one and one half to five years in prison for the
coercion charge.
5. (SBU) The prosecution of Acar is the latest in a string of
court cases, arrests and investigations that German authorities
are undertaking against the PKK and affiliated groups in
response to heightened concerns over the activities of
Germany-based PKK fund-raisers and supporters. Over the past
year, law enforcement actions including extraditions, arrests,
raids, and investigations of PKK-related groups have been used
to disrupt the PKK's operations in Germany, to target the
current and former leadership, and to shut down PKK-sympathetic
media outlets (see ref B).
6. (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy Berlin.
BOYSE