As part of the lawsuit filed against 108 people over Kobani protests from seven years ago, the court has started reviewing the arrest of 28 politicians.

 

While Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) former Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ are also among the arrested defendants of the case, all arrested politicians except for Aysel Tuğluk and Bülent Parmaksız, who are having health problems, attended the interlocutory hearing via the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS).

 

Following their press statement in front of the courthouse, HDP MPs Hüseyin Kaçmaz, Sait Dede, Tülay Hatimoğulları, Dilan Dirayet Taşdemir and Oya Ersoy also followed the interlocutory hearing.

 

The hearing attended by the attorneys started with the indentity check. Afterwards, the prosecutor presented opinion as to the accusations.

 

The prosecutor stated that there was strong criminal suspicion and concrete evidence against 28 people, adding that arrest was a proportional measure and judicial control measures would not suffice.

 

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency, the prosecutor also referred to Demirtaş, for whom the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) gave a ruling of right violation and immediate release. The prosecutor said, "It is understood that the defense statements have not yet been taken, the arrest as part of the file and the related ECtHR ruling is not related to our file."

 

The prosecutor demanded that the arrest of all arrested politicians continue.

 

SELAHATTİN DEMİRTAŞ: A VILE INDICTMENT

 

After the prosecutor's opinion as to the accusations, the hearing continued with the defense statements of defendants.

 

Selahattin Demirtaş, the arrested former Co-Chair of the HDP, took the floor first. Referring to the indictment of the closure case filed against the HDP, Demirtaş defined the indictment as "vile" and said that they rejected the indictment. He also stated that he did not ask for his own release, but requested the release of all other arrested politicians.

 

THIS INDICTMENT IS A BUNDLE OF CONTRADICTIONS

 

Taking the floor after Demirtaş, Figen Yüksedağ, the other arrested former Co-Chair of the HDP, briefly said:

 

"We have no special request for our own release. But we demand in the name of the country that this scandal be brought to an end. This is something that pushes Turkey into a travesty. An end needs to be put to this.

 

"The course of the trial shows quite clearly why this trial is held. We do not demand release, but we demand that you act in compliance with the law. What review of arrest will you make? Which state of our arrest will you review? This trial is a bundle of contradictions for this reason."

 

Issued by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the 3,530-page indictment demands aggravated life sentence and hundreds of years in prison for 108 people on charges of "disturbing the unity of the state and integrity of the country" and "murder" for 37 times.