French Turkish Student in Court on Extremism Charges

A young French-Turkish student appeared in court again on Monday accused of links to an outlawed far-left extremist group in a case which has sparked outrage among rights group.

Sevil Sevimli, a 20-year-old exchange student, was arrested in Turkey after joining a May Day parade in Istanbul and went on trial in September on charges that risk up to 32 years in prison.

Prosecutors accuse Sevimli of disseminating propaganda on behalf of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), which is listed as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.

Several observers from France attended the second hearing in the northwestern city of Bursa.

Sevimli's lawyer described the charges as "very exaggerated".

"Her only fault is to come to Turkey as a student with leftist ideas," Inayet Aksu told the judge.

The next hearing is set for January 16.

Since 1976, the DHKP-C has been behind numerous attacks against the Turkish state that have left dozens of people dead, including two retired generals and a former justice minister.

In the latest attack, suicide bomber said to be from DHKP-C blew himself up at a police station in Istanbul in September, killing a Turkish police officer and wounding seven other people.

Born in France to Turkish Kurd parents, Sevimli was completing a final year of studies in Turkey under Erasmus, the inter-European university exchange scheme.

She was arrested after joining a May Day parade in Istanbul, demonstrating in favor of free education in Turkey and attending a concert by Grup Yorum, a left-wing music band.

She spent three months in jail before her conditional release in August.