Twenty-seven academics have been handed down sentences totaling 57 years, 11 months and five days on charges of disseminating terrorist propaganda in signing a declaration in 2016 calling for an end to counterterrorism operations in Turkey’s Kurdish Southeast.
Bianet reported on Friday that in the combined cases of the academics, the Istanbul 33rd High Criminal Court handed down two-year, three-month sentences to 14 academics for not expressing any remorse. The others were given two-year suspended sentences.
In their final defense, the academics reiterated their call for peace and stated that their action was an exercise of freedom of expression.
A total of 1,228 academics signed the declaration. In addition to prosecution, many were dismissed from their university positions.