Under a "friendly settlement" reached at the European Court of Human Rights on 11 January, Kurdish human rights activist Leyla Zana, along with two other Turkish nationals, will receive financial compensation from the Turkish state for the latter's violation of the applicants' right to free expression.

Zana, a former member of the banned Democratic Party (DEP) and a recipient of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, spent ten years in prison for speaking Kurdish in the Turkish parliament. She, along with Veysel Turhan, the former president of the People's Democracy Party (HADEP), and Hamit Geylani, HADEP's secretary general, appealed against a 16-month prison sentence and a fine meted out to them by the Turkish national security court for allegedly publishing separatist propaganda in a 1997 issue of HADEP's monthly journal. Zana was also sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine for allegedly inciting hatred and hostility.

The "friendly settlement" was reached after the applicants challenged the court ruling, arguing that the procedure and the decision had constituted a violation of their freedom of expression. Zana will now receive 9,000 euro for damage and for costs and expenses. Turhan and Geylani will each receive 7,000 euro for damage and 1,500 euro jointly for costs and expenses.