A court in Turkey on Wednesday sentenced the president of the Turkish Medical Association, Sebnem Korur Fincanci, to prison for allegedly spreading “terrorist propaganda”. The court sentenced the 63-year-old doctor to two years, eight months and 15 days in prison, Turkish media reported.
Fincanci was released immediately after sentencing. Prison sentences of less than three years are rarely carried out in Turkey.
Fincanci had been in custody since October 27. The renowned medical examiner has called for an investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Turkish army against Kurdish fighters.
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Pro-Kurdish media and opposition figures have accused the Turkish army of using chemical weapons against fighters from the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK claimed that 17 of its fighters were killed in one such attack in the mountains of northern Iraq.
Turkey: “slander”
The Turkish defense minister called the accusations “slander”. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the doctor of speaking “the language of terrorism”. The lawsuit against the president of the Medical Association was internationally denounced as politically motivated.