Cablegate: Stiffer Sentences for Dhkp-C Convicts

VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBS #3761 3121424
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081424Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3551
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0506

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.
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