France: PKK members sentenced for 'extortion' and 'financing of terrorism'

A man carrying a PKK flag during a rally of Kurds in Republic Square in late December 2022. REUTERS - SARAH MEYSSONNIER

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Eleven members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were sentenced on Friday 14 April by the Paris Criminal Court, notably for "extortion" and "financing of terrorism", to sentences of three years suspended to four years firm. These Kurds from Turkey were tried for having been part of a "network" responsible for collecting from the diaspora in the south-east of the France the "kampanya", the revolutionary tax to finance the PKK.

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Engaged since 1984 in the armed struggle against the Turkish State, the PKK is considered a terrorist group by Ankara, but also, since 2002, by the European Union. And it is precisely the terrorist nature of this organization, and therefore the charges against the accused, that were at the heart of the debates.

The terrorist qualification was unanimously contested by the defence lawyers, who, like Raphael Kempf, denounced the "schizophrenia" of the France in its relations with the Kurds.

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The France supports on the ground and receives in Paris members of the YPG, considered the Syrian branch of the PKK, and on the other hand, the France, through its national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office, considers that they are terrorists, he points out. There is indeed something of the order of ambivalence, not to say the hypocrisy of the French state, to treat differently people who are nevertheless groups that fought against Daesh and who did against Daesh, in my opinion, much more than the DGSI and the national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office combined.

But in its decision, the court ruled that "if PKK members (...) have fought jihadist groups", the PKK "cannot be defined solely by this action" and its "terrorist character" is proven, citing "attacks" in Turkey and "violent actions" in France.

Proof of the complexity of the issue, however, the court followed the prosecutor's office, which did not request an exclusion order, which is customary in terrorism matters, "by virtue of the refugee status" of most of the defendants, facing "a proven danger" in Turkey according to the prosecutor.

One more "hypocrisy", "since the OFRA withdraws the status of refugees from people convicted of terrorism", castigates Mr. Kempf, who fears to see his client returned to Turkey where an eight-year sentence for terrorism awaits him.

► READ ALSO: Paris calls on Ankara to distinguish the PKK from the Kurdish community

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• France
• Turkey
• Kurds
• Justice