Opposition HDP lawmaker Besime Konca released from prison

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Siirt deputy Besime Konca was released from prison on July 29 after the approval of her appeal against a 2.5-year prison sentence for disseminating terror propaganda.  The 2nd High Criminal Court in the southeastern province of Batman ordered Konca's release considering the five years she remained in custody. She was previously jailed in 2009 on terror charges, and released in 2014.  Konca was jailed for two-and-a-half years on May 29 by the Batman court on a series of charges which included membership of a terror organization and making terror propaganda.  Her lawyers had appealed the jail term, but the ruling was upheld on July 13 by a court in the southern province of Gaziantep.  Several HDP deputies, including party leaders Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, were arrested in November. The lawmakers began facing prosecution under anti-terrorism legislation after their parliamentary immunity was lifted in March 2016.