*ÇHD: Progressive Lawyers Association
The Istanbul 32nd High Criminal Court ordered the release of detained lawyer Doğa İncesu while maintaining a travel ban on lawyer Seda Şaraldı at the 22nd hearing of a trial involving 10 defendants accused of “membership in a terrorist organization.”
Şaraldı, a member of the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD), is being prosecuted over activities related to her legal work. She is standing trial alongside İncesu and eight other defendants.
The court ruled that İncesu should be released from pretrial detention while the ban preventing Şaraldı from traveling abroad would remain in effect.
Rabia Çetin
Observers barred from courtroom
Observers were barred from attending the hearing, with police barricades and riot police units blocking the corridor leading to the courtroom before proceedings began.
The hearing started 90 minutes late. Lawyer Seda Şaraldı, who is standing trial without being held in pretrial detention, did not attend, while detained lawyer Doğa İncesu and Şaraldı’s lawyers were present.
Representatives of the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD), the Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD) and the Istanbul Bar Association monitored the proceedings.
Following identity checks, the hearing began with the defense statement of İncesu, who was arrested as part of operations referred to as “NATO operations” and whose case was subsequently merged with the ongoing trial.
İncesu was questioned about statements made by cooperating witnesses, visits he made to prisons as part of his professional duties and meetings with his clients.
Cooperating witness cites computer use as evidence of alleged organization membership
Cooperating witness Neslihan Albayrak, who testified via Turkey’s judicial video conferencing system (SEGBİS) from the prison where she is being held, said she had seen lawyer Doğa İncesu using a computer belonging to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) at the home of his client, Ayten Öztürk. Albayrak said she concluded from this observation that İncesu was a member of the organization.
Responding to Albayrak’s testimony, İncesu rejected the allegations.
“Albayrak claimed that I participated in organizational activities and training sessions with my client Ayten Öztürk. I did not participate in any training activities with Öztürk, who was abducted in Lebanon in 2018 and subjected to torture for six months after being brought to Ankara. My relationship with Ayten Öztürk is strictly that of a lawyer and client. I do not know Neslihan Albayrak, the cooperating witness who testified against me,” İncesu said.
Another detained cooperating witness, Abdurrahman Aziz Arslan, also testified via SEGBİS, alleging that İncesu had visited him in prison on the organization’s instructions and encouraged him to undertake a death fast and hunger strike.
Arslan also said he had made what he described as “sincere confessions” to police concerning 293 people.
Responding to these allegations, İncesu said he had visited Arslan twice in prison in his capacity as a lawyer and rejected the accusations.
“I visited Abdurrahman Aziz Arslan twice in prison while working as a lawyer. At the time of my visits, his mental health was impaired because he had been detained for a long time and was on a hunger strike. I reject the accusations,” İncesu said.
“Aziz Arslan also claimed that I was the DHKP-C’s regional leader for Central Anatolia in 2014 and 2015. I was 15 years old at the time. There is no question of my having held such a leadership position,” he added.
İncesu also requested a psychiatric evaluation of Arslan.
“I request that a report be obtained assessing the mental health of Aziz Arslan, who is being held in a so-called ‘well-type’ prison and is on a hunger strike,” he said.
“All the activities I am accused of are part of my professional duties”
Responding to additional allegations in the indictment, Doğa İncesu maintained that all the activities cited as evidence against him were carried out as part of his professional responsibilities as a lawyer.
“The indictment accuses me of membership in the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP). However, I have never been tried in any case involving the MLKP. The prosecutor simply copied and pasted the indictment,” İncesu said.
“My visit to Gürkan Türkoğlu, who died while on a hunger strike against so-called ‘well-type’ prisons, has also been treated as a crime. I visited Türkoğlu at the hospital on behalf of the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD). He had been in intensive care for a long time, and we were communicating with the prosecutor so that his family could obtain information from his doctor.”
“These were entirely professional activities. We represented people who had been subjected to torture and those who were on hunger strikes. Every activity I am accused of in this case was carried out as part of my professional duties. I reject all the charges and request my acquittal,” he added.
“Lawyers are being tried in high criminal courts instead of practicing their profession”
Following İncesu’s defense statement, Istanbul Bar Association Vice President Leyla Rukiye Süren addressed the court on behalf of the bar association, arguing that İncesu and Seda Şaraldı were being prosecuted for carrying out their professional duties.
Süren said that instead of practicing law and providing legal defense, the two lawyers were being forced to defend themselves before high criminal courts. She requested İncesu’s release from detention and the acquittal of both lawyers on all charges.
Güçlü Sevimli, a lawyer representing both Şaraldı and İncesu, subsequently told the court that the defense had disproved the allegations against İncesu with documentary evidence, but that he had nevertheless been detained.
Sevimli also argued that statements made by cooperating witnesses against the defendants were contradictory. Noting that the witnesses had already been heard and all evidence had been collected, he requested İncesu’s release.
Another defense lawyer, Naim Eminoğlu, argued that the cooperating witnesses in the case had agreed to provide testimony against others to secure legal benefits for themselves after being convicted of membership in an organization.
Eminoğlu also requested İncesu’s release and the acquittal of both İncesu and Şaraldı.
Court orders İncesu’s release, maintains travel ban on Şaraldı
Following the defense statements, the prosecutor requested İncesu’s release under judicial supervision, subject to a ban on leaving Turkey. The prosecutor also asked the court to maintain the existing international travel ban imposed on Şaraldı.
Without taking a recess, the judge announced a decision ordering İncesu’s release from detention and maintaining the travel ban on Şaraldı.
The next hearing was scheduled for April 13, 2027, at 10:45 a.m.
