Medine Mamedoğlu
DIYARBAKIR – The second hearing in the case against Selahattin Demirtaş, former co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was held at the 18th Criminal Court of First Instance in Diyarbakır, a major city in southeastern Turkey with a large Kurdish population. The case concerns seven separate speeches Demirtaş gave in 2016.
Demirtaş faces five separate charges, including “publicly insulting the State of the Republic of Turkey, its Government, Judicial Organs, Police and Military Organizations” and “inciting the public to hatred and enmity.” Lawyer Mahsuni Karaman was present at the hearing.
The session ended just a few minutes after it began, without any defense statements being taken. The court decided to postpone the hearing in order to evaluate a request to merge the case with similar investigations launched in the cities of Mersin and Ankara over the same charges.
The next hearing is scheduled for June 3 at 9 a.m.
