The trial of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), began on 31 May 1999 and concluded on 29 June with a Death sentence for treason and separatism. Öcalan was captured in February 1999 in Nairobi, Kenya and brought to Turkey where he was imprisoned on the İmralı island in the Sea of Marmara. After his conviction, Öcalan appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which ruled he did not have a fair trial and demanded a retrial. The death sentence was confirmed by the Court of Cassation in November 1999 and Turkey denied Öcalan a retrial. His death sentence was commuted into life imprisonment in October 2002.