Investigation against HDP co-chair Buldan is with chief public prosecutor’s office in Ankara

The investigation against the Kurdish politician Pervin Buldan for alleged “improper conduct in court” has been sent to the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office. It should not be long before another indictment is brought against the co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

The background to the proceedings are statements made by Buldan at the start of the trial against the murderer of HDP employee Deniz Poyraz. The accused, a self-confessed Turkish fascist, went into the HDP headquarters in Izmir with arms, despite the building being under 24-hour police surveillance, on 17 June and killed the young party worker with six bullets. After the attack, the police took him away from the scene of the crime and addressed him politely as “brother”. He has been on trial since the end of December.

The first hearing, on 29 December, was celebrated in a very tense atmosphere. The accused had repeatedly insulted Deniz Poyraz’s relatives, but was not prosecuted by the court or the military police officers present. Angry protests then broke out in the courtroom, with HDP leader Pervin Buldan calling on the court to intervene. “This man – she said – was trained to use weapons in Manbij and is a murderer, and an ISIS supporter. You can’t just remain in silence. He needs to be treated like a murderer!”

That same evening, the General Prosecutor’s Office in Izmir announced that it had opened an investigation against Buldan for grossly insulting the court. According to the prosecutor, “the 54-year-old [Buldan] tried to counteract the accused’s right to a fair trial by saying improper words and inappropriate gestures”. In addition, the prosecutor said she “wanted to influence the functioning of the administration of justice, in particular the finding of truth and justice.” Buldan’s choice of words was “grossly insulting,” according to the prosecutor, who said that the fact that she pointed her finger at the judges during her speech “damaged the reputation of the collegial court.”