Selahattin Demirtaş, former leader of the pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, sentenced to 42 years in prison

A court in Turkey has sentenced Selahattin Demirtaş, the former leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), to 42 years in prison. Demirtaş has previously run against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in two presidential elections and in recent years, the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly called for his release. Turkish state television, TRT, announced on Thursday, May 17, that judges in Turkey simultaneously sentenced several Kurdish politicians, including Demirtaş, who is currently imprisoned, to prison terms ranging from 9 to 42 years on charges of 'organizing' and 'inciting violence' during deadly protests in 2014. The television reported that Demirtaş was found guilty on a total of 47 charges. Opponents of Erdoğan's government argue that this trial was politically motivated and part of a broader crackdown by the state against the pro-Kurdish party. Additionally, Figen Yüksekdağ, another leader of this party and a former member of the Turkish parliament who is also in prison, was sentenced to 30 years for 'attempting to challenge the unity of the state', 'inciting criminal acts', and 'participating in propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization'. The Cumhuriyet newspaper, among the critical media outlets of Erdoğan's government, reported that the session was marked by tension, with lawyers banging on tables and leaving the courtroom in protest against the verdicts. The 2014 protests, which mainly took place in Kurdish cities in Turkey, were a response to the Turkish army's failure to intervene to prevent ISIS militants from seizing the Kurdish city of Kobani in Syria. Following these events, the Turkish government accused 108 individuals of various crimes, including 'the murder of 37 victims' and 'crimes against the integrity of the state'.