If the 48-year-old man, Huysein A., is convicted, he faces up to five years in jail.

Huysein A. was arrested in the western German city of Detmold in July last year. He is accused of being the top man in Germany for the illegal Kurdish party - which the EU recognises as a terrorist organization - up until April 2008.

In addition, he is suspected of having threatened to have used death threats to force a 21 year old Kurdish woman to have an abortion.