Aysel Tuğluk, an independent pro-Kurdish MP from Diyarbakır, was sentenced on Tuesday, June 12, to 14 years and 6 months in prison on charges of being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and spreading propaganda for the PKK in a series of 12 speeches she made between 2007 and 2010, Today’s Zaman reported.

The Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court sentenced Tuğluk to over a decade in prison for speeches she made on 12 separate occasions, saying her actions and activities have reached a level at which she could be considered to be a member of the PKK. Such a charge calls for a six year, three month jail sentence in line with Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

Furthermore, the court stated that an additional eight year, three month sentence would be added to the first sentence in accordance with Article 7 of the Counterterrorism Law (TMK) which requires a person to be sentenced for spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization.

In a similar development, a Diyarbakır court last month sentenced Leyla Zana, another independent pro-Kurdish deputy from Diyarbakır, to 10 years in prison on charges of being a member of the PKK and spreading PKK propaganda in speeches she made over four years ago.