Kobanê Trial resumes today

The 9th hearing of the Kobane Case, in which HDP former co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ, Selahattin Demirtaş and over 100 party members are tried, will be held in Sincan today.

HDP co-chair Mithat Sancar, Law Commission members, party central executive members, deputies Dersim Dağ, Filiz Kerestecioğlu, Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit, Tülay Hatimoğulları, Oya Ersoy, Muazzez Orhan, Mahmut Toğrul, Celadet Gaydalı, Mehmet Tiryaki, Kemal Bülbül, Abdullah Koç , Ömer Öcalan, Erdal Aydemir, Ali Kenanoğlu, Hüseyin Kaçmaz and many lawyers will attend the hearing.

Background

A total of 108 personalities from politics, civil society and the Kurdish freedom movement are accused in the Kobanê trial. They face severe prison sentences on the basis of trumped-up charges, in dozens of cases, aggravated life sentences and thus imprisonment until death.

The 3,530-page indictment relates to events that occurred in October 2014 around the Kurdish town of Kobanê in northern Syria. In a Twitter post, which the ECtHR considers political speech, the HDP called for solidarity with Kobanê, which was under siege by ISIS, and protests against the Turkish government for not ending its support for ISIS.

During these protests, violent clashes broke out between the demonstrators, the police, the military and organizations close to ISIS, resulting in 43 deaths, according to the HDP. The public prosecutor’s office speaks of 37 deaths.

These deaths, most of which were HDP members, are blamed in the Kobanê trial on the executive committee at the time and the party as a whole.