The first hearing in the case commenced against Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş for “spreading terrorist propaganda” and “provoking the public” in a speech he made in Van's Erciş district in 2010, has been held today.

The hearing was attended by Demirtaş's lawyers, HDP Van MP Bedia Özgökçe Ertan and administrators from HDP and Democratic Regions' Party (DBP).

HDP Co-chair Demirtaş, who attended the hearing via video conference system SEGBİS from Edirne T Type Clsoed Prison where he is held, denounced a violation of his right to defense. Demirtaş said he agreed with the statements of his lawyers, and refused to defend himself before the evaluation of his objection.

Remarking that the indictment of this case was based on a summary of proceedings prepared over 7 years ago, Demirtaş stated that his speech, for which he stands trial, must be handled in the scope of freedom of expression as he just voiced their stance towards constitution referendum.

HDP Co-chair also criticized the distortion of his remarks, stating that some words were particularly extracted from his speech, and demanded an evaluation of his whole text of speech. He pointed out that there was no concrete fastening nor a concrete accusation in the extracted parts of his speech which were cited as a crime in the indictment, such as “spreading terrorist propaganda” and “provoking the public”.

HDP Co-chair underlined that the court board must reject this accusation to begin with, and described the indictment as a crime committed against him.

"Prosecutors have committed a crime against me because I use my right to do politics and to represent my people. I demand that these prosecutors be investigated.

We see these accusations as a simple justification for our arrest that are put forward without a serious and comprehensive investigation. We remain jailed on the basis of simple indictments which we can call a slander. The court decision stands as an insult against six million voters."

The trial was postponed to April 27.