VZCZCXRO9975
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDF #0016 1171614
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271614Z APR 09
FM AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0200
INFO RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0007
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDF/AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF 0216

UNCLAS DUSSELDORF 000016 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR, S/CT, INR, INL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER KISL PGOV KCRM TU GM
SUBJECT: TRIAL OF GERMAN PKK LEADER HUESEYIN ACAR BEING 
 
REF: A. A) DUSSELDORF 10 
     ¶B. B) 2008 BERLIN 1694 
 
¶1.  (U) The trial of alleged Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) 
Germany leader Hueseyin Acar (aka Hueseyin Colak), began on 
April 27 in Duesseldorf, the latest in a series of high profile 
terrorism cases at the city's Higher Regional Court.  German 
authorities have charged Acar (49) with leading an international 
terrorist organization and coercion, by threatening the life of 
a young Kurdish woman who had become pregnant by a PKK member in 
Stuttgart.  The prosecution claimed that he threatened to kill 
her if she did not abort the pregnancy, a form of coercion 
reportedly common in the German PKK organization where 
punishment for illicit relationships could range from isolation 
to banishment to Iraq.  The trial is scheduled to last until 
August, but could take longer. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U) German authorities arrested Acar in July 2008 in Detmold 
in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia.  The prosecution alleges that 
Acar performed management functions for the PKK in Germany, 
including finding financing for their activities, recruiting 
personnel, and managing the component parts of the organization. 
 Specifically, Acar is charged with directing a criminal 
organization (under section 129 of the German criminal code) and 
coercion (section 240).  While he was leader, he allegedly had 
400 PKK functionaries working under him in Germany.  The 
prosecution claimed that young members of the PKK continue 
carrying out firebombing attacks in Germany, most recently in 
February in Wuppertal. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U) When asked to state his ethnicity, Acar surprised the 
court by twice affirming that he is not Kurdish but Turkish.  He 
gave a lengthy opening statement in which he claimed that the 
past 31 years of his life, since the December 1978 Maras 
Massacre in Turkey, had been a "psychological prison". 
 
 
 
¶4.  (U) The long statement came after defense attorneys 
challenged the trial venue, arguing that the Sixth Criminal 
Division of the Duesseldorf Higher Regional Court was too busy 
to properly hear the case.  The Sixth Criminal Division created 
a special panel to hear this case, as the main group of judges, 
headed by Ottmar Breidling, was hearing the higher profile 
"Sauerland Cell" terrorism trial (reftel).  The court did not 
rule on that motion.  Acar faces a sentence of ten years in 
prison for membership in an international terrorist organization 
and between one and one half to five years in prison for the 
coercion charge. 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) The prosecution of Acar is the latest in a string of 
court cases, arrests and investigations that German authorities 
are undertaking against the PKK and affiliated groups in 
response to heightened concerns over the activities of 
Germany-based PKK fund-raisers and supporters.  Over the past 
year, law enforcement actions including extraditions, arrests, 
raids, and investigations of PKK-related groups have been used 
to disrupt the PKK's operations in Germany, to target the 
current and former leadership, and to shut down PKK-sympathetic 
media outlets (see ref B). 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy Berlin. 
 
BOYSE