Penalties Determined in the Kobani Case – Latest Breaking News
Opinions were presented on the ongoing trial of 108 defendants, including senior executives of the PKK and former HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, for organizing actions in October 2014 under the pretext of Kobani. The hearing was held by the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court at the Sincan Penal Institutions Campus, where some of the defendants and their lawyers attended. The Public Prosecutor summarized a 5,268-page opinion consisting of 13 chapters, which stated that the HDP administration and leaders of the PKK called for illegal demonstrations on the streets, which resulted in attacks on law enforcement and civilians in 32 provinces and 96 districts. After the attacks, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation against those who made the calls, which resulted in the detention of 82 suspects in 7 provinces in September 2020.
One defendant’s lawyer stated that some defendants did not accept the submission of the opinion before their interrogation was completed. The accused and their lawyers will prepare their defense against the opinion, and the hearing was adjourned. The opinion demanded aggravated life imprisonment for several defendants, including former HDP MPs, for the charges of «destroying the unity of the state and the integrity of the country,» as well as for the crime of «qualified killing» related to the murder of 6 people.
The Kobani events occurred after the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, where ISIS had attacked Kobani against the PKK. The HDP called for a nationwide street action on 6 October, using ISIS’s attacks as an excuse, which led to violence that resulted in 2 police martyrs, 35 people losing their lives, and 761 injured. More than 1,600 suspects were investigated after the events, and 386 of the 894 suspects were arrested. The trial of the 108 defendants for their involvement in the violence and destruction is still ongoing.
