Four released in the Kobanê trial

Four people have been released on Friday in the Kobanê trial in Ankara. The court ordered release of former HDP deputies Emine Ayna, Beyza Üstün and Ibrahim Binici as well as Zeki Çelik, former financial auditor of the HDP on condition of judicial control and ban on leaving the country. Of the 108 defendants, 20 currently remain in custody. Their detention trial is scheduled to take place between July 14 and August 6.

At today’s hearing in the Sincan prison complex, the lawyers demanded the release of all imprisoned politicians and pointed out that the accusations related to the protests against the ISIS attack on Kobanê in October 2014 are baseless. Rather, they said, the political content of the HDP is what is being accused. The trial was adjourned until September 10.

On Tuesday last week, the 22nd Heavy Penal Court of Ankara had ordered the release from pre-trial detention of the former mayor of Kars, Ayhan Bilgen, as well as former HDP executive committee members Berfin Özgü Köse, Can Memiş and Cihan Erdal, also on condition of judicial control. All four had been arrested in the Turkish capital in October 2020.

Accused in Ankara’s so-called Kobanê trial are 108 figures from politics, civil society and the Kurdish movement who are accused of terror crimes and murder in dozens of cases in connection with the protests during the ISIS attack on Kobanê in October 2014. For former HDP chairman Selahattin Demirtaş alone, the chief public prosecutor’s office is demanding up to 15,000 utopian years in prison.