Kobanî trial: 5-minute hearing in an empty courtroom

* Image: Ercan Altuntaş

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The 7th hearing of the Kobanî trial continued at the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court in the capital city today (December 6).

In the trial over the "October 6-8, 2014 Kobanî protests", there are 108 defendants, 21 arrested, including former HDP Co-Chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) former Co-Chair Sebahat Tuncel and HDP Central Executive Board members.

Raising concerns that "the hearing periods have turned into torture and the principle of fair trial is trampled upon", the arrested politicians and their lawyers do not attend the hearings in protest.

Today's hearing was also held in an empty courtroom.

Jailed politicians' requests rejected

The Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court had accepted the defendants' requests for taking the requests for recusal to the upper court and sent the related requests to the Ankara 23rd High Criminal Court.

However, the court continued holding the hearings without waiting for the upper court to examine the requests for recusal.

As reported by the HDP, the hearing today lasted 5 minutes and the Presiding Judge read out the petitions of excuse submitted by the arrested politicians and their lawyers. The prosecutor's office presented its opinion as to the excuses and requested that the excuses on health-related grounds be accepted while the other excuses of the politicians and lawyers be rejected.

Giving his interim judgement on the requests, the Judge has rejected the politicians' requests for being exempted from attending the hearings.

The court has also ruled that "the lawyers' requests being excused shall be rejected, considering that they are not considered legal and valid, and that the requests of some defendants and defendants' lawyers for changing the hearing periods shall be rejected on the grounds indicated at the previous hearings." The hearing will continue tomorrow (December 7).

What happened?

CLICK - 'Holding the Kobanî trial without lawyers will make the entire trial extrajudicial'

At the hearing held on November 8, 2021, the court board announced that the Presiding Judge of the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court Bahtiyar Çolak had been dismissed by the decision of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) dated November 4, 2021.

Court board member Yıldıray Kaya has been appointed in place of Çolak. With the same decision, Murat Dönmez from the Ankara 23rd High Criminal Court has been appointed to Kaya's position.

The arrested defendants and their lawyers, in order not to be a part of the trial practice, decided to not attend the hearings.

The lawyers of the Kobanî trial and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Law and Human Rights Commission applied to the Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) on November 11, 2021 and filed a complaint against the board of the high criminal court hearing the Kobanî case.

Speaking to the press after submitting their petition to the HSK in Ankara, lawyer Kenan Maçoğlu briefly said, "The HSK interfered with the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court, which hears the Kobanî case. The presiding judge has been dismissed, a new member has been appointed to the court board. A new attitude has attempted to be developed with this."

In their petition, the lawyers have requested that an investigation be launched against the 1st Presiding Judge of the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court Yıldıray Kaya and court board members Ergün Yılmaz and Barış Karakurt on the grounds of "eliminating the possibility of carrying out activities of attorneyship and violating the right of defense and fair trial." (AS/SD)