According to a recent statement by the Cypriot Observatory on the trial of Kenan Ayaz, the German Federal Court has issued its decision on the appeal of the Kurdish activist. Ayaz, who was sentenced to four years and three months in prison by the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg on September 2, 2024, appealed because the only charge against him, namely participation in a terrorist organization, was not substantiated in any of the hearings.

According to the announcement, the Three-Member Court of Appeal unanimously rejected on May 14, 2025, the defendant’s appeal against the decision of the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg, as no “legal error” was found against him.

Kenan Ayaz continues to serve his sentence in a Hamburg prison, and responsibility has been transferred to the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Cyprus. In the conviction of September 2, the Larnaca District Court’s condition that he is to serve his sentence in a Cypriot prison if convicted was accepted. Therefore, Ayaz’s defense team, through lawyer Efstathios C. Efstathiou, is expected to send a letter to Mr. Marios Hartsioitis, as he must request this from the German authorities.

“At the same time, his defense counsel in Germany, Antonia von der Behrens, will apply to the German Ministry of Justice for the issuance of a certificate justifying the implementation of the above condition. Now diplomacy must “speak” so that the Kurdish activist Kenan Ayaz, who was recognized as a political refugee in the Republic of Cyprus and who has never stopped repeating the need for the liberation of Cyprus and Kurdistan, does not have to spend any more days in such appalling conditions of detention,” said the Observatory on the trial of Kenan Ayaz.

The trial of Kenan Ayaz at the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg

Kenan Ayaz spent twelve years in prison in Turkey for his involvement in the fight against the oppression of the Kurdish population. The new trial against Ayaz began in November 2023. The trial lasted almost a year, with 40 days of hearings. The federal prosecutor ultimately sought a prison sentence of four and a half years, while the defense demanded an acquittal.

Antonia von der Behrens stated that Kenan Ayaz could have been free long ago if he had expressed remorse and not clung to his political identity. From the outset, Kenan Ayaz had argued that the arrest warrant against him was only issued because Turkey had demanded stronger persecution of Kurds in Europe in the wake of Sweden and Finland's accession to NATO.

Kenan Ayaz defended himself against the politically motivated charges until the end, repeatedly pointing out that they were arbitrarily constructed and targeted him as a Kurdish intellectual. His defense attorney later said that the relatively long prison sentence was a response to his style of defense. In his appeal, he argued that the public had been repeatedly and unlawfully restricted during the trial and that he had been convicted on the basis of very flimsy evidence.