Lawyer Levent Pişkin acquitted

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Detained in 2016 on the grounds that he met arrested former Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş in prison, lawyer Levent Pişkin had his final heating today (November 18).

Handing down its judgement, the Bursa 8th Heavy Penal Court has ruled that 11 defendants, including lawyers Levent Pişkin, Cahit Kırkazak and Ayşe Batumlu, shall be acquitted of all charges.

Put on trial as part of the same file, one defendant has been sentenced to 5 years in prison on charge of "possession of unregistered firearm."

What happened?

Levent Pişkin, an attorney for arrested former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, was taken into custody in a police raid conducted to his house in İstanbul at around 5 a.m. on November 14, 2016.

Before he was detained, some news were reported in some platforms such as the pro-government Takvim, Sabah, Ulusal Kanal, alleging that Pişkin would give Demirtaş's messages to a magazine in Germany so that they could be used for purposes of propaganda.

As the investigation against Pişkin was launched in Bursa province, he was taken to Bursa on November 15, 2016. Levent Pişkin was released after giving a statement at the prosecutor's office there.

Indictment

Indicting Levent Pişkin in April 2017, Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor Gökhan Şen has charged lawyer Pişkin with visiting his client Selahattin Demirtaş in prison by using his lawyer identity card. Whatsapp messages of the lawyer were also cited as criminal evidence.

Sent to the Bursa 8th Heavy Penal Court, the 33-page indictment has charged 12 people, including Batumlu, Kırkazak and Pişkin, of "membership of the organization" and "propagandizing for the organization."

Opinion as to the accusations

In his opinion as to the accusations, prosecutor Baysal alleged that 12 people, including Pişkin, Kırkazak and Batumlu, "had affiliations with the organization, they were a part of the organization's hierarchy, they had abandoned their will to the top execution and leader of the organization, thereby being members of the armed terrorist organization, and also committed the offense of propagandizing for a terrorist organization."

Accordingly, the prosecutor demanded that the defendants be separately penalized as per the Article 314/2 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), the Article 5/1 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK); the Article 7/2-2 of the TMK no. 3713 and the Articles 53, 54, 58 and 63 of the TCK.

About Levent Pişkin

Lawyer, LGBTI+ rights activist. A member of the Libertarian Lawyers Association (ÖHD). A graduate of Ankara University Faculty of Law. MA degree in the Boğaziçi University's Institute of Atatürk's Principles and History of Revolution. (TP/SD)