"Ocalan demands retrial in Turkey
Published: Thursday, 2 February, 2006, 11:12 AM Doha Time
ISTANBUL: Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has formally asked to be retried in Turkey after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled last year that his trial was unfair, one of his lawyers said on Tuesday.
Ocalan, 57, who launched a bloody Kurdish rebellion in southeast Turkey in 1984, was condemned to death in 1999 for treason, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2002 after Turkey abolished capital punishment as part of efforts to align with European Union democracy norms.
Ocalan’s demand poses a legal challenge to the government because current laws do not allow for his retrial, but Ankara is under pressure to comply with the rulings of the ECHR, lawyer Ibrahim Bilmez said. “They will have to amend the laws,” he said. – AFP"
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