Habibe Eren

 

ISTANBUL - Speaking about the Kobanê trial to be held on April 26, attorney Ezgi Güngördü pointed out that Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) members are accused of 'attempted murder' or even 'causing miscarriage' and said, "These are all charges that require directness. Our clients are said to have killed someone through speech. This is not possible theoretically."

 

Upon the attacks carried out by ISIS against Kobanê, Turkey has experienced protests between October 6-9, 2014. The first hearing of the trial against 108 people due to the protests will be held on April 26. HDP former Co-Chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) former Co-Chair Sebahat Tuncel, Diyarbakır's former Co-mayor Gültan Kışanak, and the HDP's Central Executive Board members of that time are among the names who are judged within the scope of the case. 

 

The indictment prepared after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Grand Chamber's decision to "immediate release" about the HDP former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş consists of 3530 pages and 30 folders. In the indictment, thousands of years of imprisonment are demanded against HDP politicians on 31 different charges such as "attempted murder" and "causing miscarriage". In the indictment, open and secret witness statements, press statements made by HDP members at that time, public meeting speeches, and tweets from social media accounts were used as a basis.

Ezgi Güngördü, the attorney of HDP former Co-Chair Figen Yüksekdağ and the Kobanê trial, spoke about the file before the first hearing on April 26.

 

"An indictment that is imprecise and contrary to the personality of the crime"

 

Stating that a total evaluation was made for each suspect in the file, Ezgi said that in this context the list of events that took place in each city of Turkey is written and the names of the suspects are added below. However, Ezgi stated that there was no connection between the events and the suspects and drew attention to the fact that no personal evaluation was made in terms of the prosecuted in the file. Ezgi said, "For instance; 25 news of Figen Yüksekdağ, which were published in Fırat News Agency (ANF), were put on file. When you look at the content of the news, there is even a sentence that includes the speech made by Figen Yüksekdağ at the Van public meeting and the words "women should use self-defense against male state violence" on March 8. The speech of the Kamuran Yüksek made due to the arrest of Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ was put on file due to the similarity of the surname. It is an indictment that is treated so imprecise and against the principle of the personality of the crime."

 

'There is no criminal element in the file'

 

Expressing that the tweet of the HDP Central Executive Board of that time was shown as the main basis in the file, Ezgi said, “However, the ECHR said that this tweet could not be a crime, it was a peaceful call. As we have stated for years, it has been documented and proved that the HDP Central Executive Board tweet, which is the basis of this file, is not a crime. Therefore, the file does not exist, there is nothing to constitute a crime”.