Kurdish politician jailed in Germany released from prison

Mahmut Kaya who was arrested in Germany last year, has been released on probation.

Kurdish politician Mahmut Kaya from Bingöl city of North Kurdistan, was arrested in Dusseldorf city of Germany in June 2018.

Kaya’s trial was held at Hamburg Heavy Penal Court and he made a four-page defence.

Kaya said their village was burned town in Şêx Said rebellion when dozens of innocent people were massacred. He continued; “Villagers were burned and people were killed. Those left behind were subject to exile. The fascist Turkish state has implemented a hostile law against us. Indeed, history repeated itself in the September 12 military coup. Thousands of people were arrested and tortured. With the rise of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement, the State perpetrated nearly 20.000 thousand unidentified murders, including Vedat Aydın. They wanted to condemn me to the same aftermath.

Masked and plainclothes police raided our house when I was not there and told my family members that I had to give a statement at the police station. Their intention was to arrest and murder me. When I saw that I would no longer be able tol ive there, I went first to Istanbul then to Germany. The struggle Kurds are waging against the Turkish state is a legitimate fight. I gave a legal struggle as an oppressed child of this people. Ignoring law and human rights, the Turkish state seeks to end the struggle of the Kurds. When it comes to Kurds, neither laws nor human rights are respected. By putting the legal Kurdish insitutions here under lock, the German state is being a party to this atrocity. As a child of the Kurdish people, I have always taken part in the righteous struggle of my people and I will continue doing the same.”

After Kaya’s defence, the prosecution argued that Kaya was involved in the PKK at the high level, participated in demonstrations and activitiesn and raised money, noting that these acts constituted a crime according to the German laws.

The court board then sentenced Kaya to 17 months in prison but later ruled for release on probation for 3 years in consideration of the time he spent in prison.

Kaya was met by his lawyer Alexsander Kinzler and a group of Kurds outside the court.