Turkish court rejects request to retry imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader

Ocalan, who led the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, demanded a retrial in late February, his lawyer Irfan Dundar told The Associated Press, but the court ruled that his demand was "not worth accepting."

Photo: Turkish court rejects request to retry imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, and has battled for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey's southeast since 1984, in a fight that has left some 37,000 people dead.

Ocalan was captured in 1999 in Kenya and sentenced to death on charges of treason, but the death sentence was commuted when Turkey later abolished the death penalty, the AP reports.

The European Court of Human rights ruled last year that Ocalan hadn't received a fair and independent trial and said reopening his case would be "an appropriate way of redressing the violation."

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said Ocalan "would get the same punishment even if tried 100 times."

Ocalan now lives on a one-man prison island in the Marmara Sea off Istanbul.