Detentions in Belgium, Arrests in France
In the context of the raids conducted in Belgium on 4 March, Belgium courts decided now to prosecute Kongra-Gel leader Remzi Kartal together with organization executive Zübeyir Aydar and another four people under charges of "membership to an illegal organization" and "being involved in organizational activities". All six defendants will be kept in detention throughout the course of the trial.
Kongra-Gel is another term for the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Together with Kartal and Aydar, Orhan Nuri Amil, Abdulselam Mustafa, Naim Acar, Bezari Adıgüzel, Ali Gülmezand one further person whose name was not disclosed were kept in custody.
The courts in Brussels and Charleroi decided to detain six of the above mentioned defendants; two of them were released. According to Fırat News Agency (ANF), the prosecutor is going to appeal against the conditional release of two of these persons.
Seven arrests in one day in France
At the same time, Devrim Arslan and his brother Heval Arslan, former employees of the Kurdish television station Roj TV, were arrested in the scope of the same investigation.
On 9 March in France, former Roj TV employees journalist Gülay Aydemir and Zeynep Geleş were taken into custody from their homes in Orleans and Paris respectively together with Roj TV reporter Nesrin Arslan in Strasbourg.
Sedat Aydemir, brother of Gülay Aydemir, and former Roj TV employee Niruz Hasan were furthermore taken into custody in the raid in Orleans. In Strasbourg, Roj TV reporter Arslan's father and sibling was taken into custody as well.
"Decision for detention was taken before 4 March"
Joint defence attorney Selma Benkhelifa issued a statement to the journalists subsequent to the hearing. Benkhelifa put forward that the detention decisions had been taken prior to the raids on 4 March.
According to Benkhelifa, this situation shows that the detentions were carried out upon the request of Turkey. The lawyer put forward that the raids of 4 March were conducted to justify the detentions and to take evidence.
Benkhelifa said that not a single question was asked regarding the raids throughout the entire hearing. "The focus was laid on general PKK activities like protest marches, demonstrations etc. carried out from 2006-2008", the lawyer argued.
About 150 people had gathered in front of the Courthouse, among them Nizamettin Toğuç, President of the Confederation of European Kurdish Associations (KON-KURD) and a vast number of representatives of institutions.
La Libre Belgique: Attraction of new members
300 police officers were involved in the raids conducted in Brussels, Antwerp, Louvain, Liège, Namur, Verviers, Charleroi, Termonde and Denderleeuw. The Belgium newspaper La Libre Belgique reported that the operations were carried out against the attempts to attract new members for the PKK in Turkey and Iraq.
PKK: A new international conspiracy
ROJ officials had announced that seven people got injured in the operations they described as "political" and that they suffered a €1.2 million loss in material damage. PKK executive Murat Karayılan had argued that the Kurdish people are confronted with a new international conspiracy. (EÖ/VK)