Alwaght- Turkish government is seeking a punishment of 142 years in prison for one of the main pro-Kurd opposition figures.
The prosecutors of the country called for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader to be put in prison for his alleged links to Kurd militants.
Selahattin Demirtas, 43, is known for his pro-Kurdish speeches in the Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
The political activist was already in prison over the accusations. He has been held in prison for more than two months without trial, based on the emergency status in the country.
Turkey accused Demirtas of “aiding an armed terrorist organization knowingly and intentionally without being a member,” in reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK.
Among other charges leveled against the politician were “praising crime and the criminal” and “inciting people to violence and hatred.”
Amnesty International denounced the arrest as “the latest escalation in the government’s evisceration of Kurdish opposition voices in public life.”
The HDP officials have all denied having any links with the PKK and denounced, with Demirtas saying he is facing punishment for daring to oppose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's push for a presidential system.
