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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