Writer-publisher Azad Zal faces 15 years in prison

* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)

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Writer and owner of J&J Publishing House Azad Zal (Mehmet Güngörmüş) had his fifth hearing in Diyarbakır yesterday (November 2).

Filed as part of the investigation against the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), the trial continued at the Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court. Charged with "membership of a [terrorist / illegal organization]", Azad Zal and his lawyer were present at yesterday's hearing.

Final opinion as to accusations

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the prosecutor took the floor at the hearing, said that s/he did not have a request for extending the prosecution and pronounced the opinion as to the accusations.

In the opinion, the prosecutor argued that Zal was engaging in activities within the body of the DTK considering that a DTK delegate card in his name was found among the digital and physical documents seized during the searches in the DTK building in Diyarbakır in 2018.

The prosecutor cited it as criminal evidence that Zal was a member of the Kurdish Language Research and Development Association (KURDİ-DER), which had been closed by a Statutory Decree, and of the Kurdish Writers Association and that some banned publications were found in the searches carried out at the publishing house that he owns.

In the final opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor demanded that Zal be given a prison sentence of up to 15 years on the grounds that he joined the organizational activities as part of the DTK works and he and other DTK members "aimed to disturb the unity and integrity of the state, cause social division and influence masses with the aim of establishing a 'so-called' Kurdish national unity on the territory of four countries."

Zal's lawyer demanded time

Azad Zal's lawyer Abdullah Cağer demanded time from the court board to prepare a statement of defense as to the accusations while he also requested that the deficiencies in the case file be rectified.

Handing down its interim ruling, the court board has ruled that the digital materials of Zal that are in the property and evidence unit shall be requested and sent to the Diyarbakır Security Directorate for examination without waiting for the scheduled day of the hearing.

Accepting the request for time of Zal and his lawyer, the court board has adjourned the trial until February 22, 2022.

Taken into custody in a house raid in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır on June 26, 2020, Zal was arrested on charge of "organization membership". Upon the appeal of his lawyers against this ruling, he was released on July 18, 2020. (KÖ/SD)