The second hearing in the case of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-chair for the previous term Selahattin Demirtaş continues on its second day. Over 50 lawyers are attending the hearing while HDP Co-chair Sezai Temelli is monitoring the case. The hearing is held in the court room within the Sincan Prison Campus, and Demirtaş has criticized the limit for observers and the press, stating that the case is being hidden from the public.

“I WISH THE HEARING WAS BROADCAST LIVE”

Demirtaş said: “The case was prepared through the media. If they trust so much in the media, I wish the hearing would be broadcast live. When it’s time to accuse me, everything is extremely public, and when it comes to the hearing there are so many precautions in place. This is a case process that is attempted to be taken away from the people and the public. The government is trying to hide the hearing from the public.”

“500.000 PEOPLE WOULD WATCH IF THEY COULD”

As Demirtaş continued his criticism of the hearing, the court chair said, “Anybody who wishes to watch can do so,” to which Demirtaş replied: “If anybody who wishes to watch could do so, there would be 500.000 people watching.” The court chair said they let everybody in, to which Demirtaş responded: “Not everyone who wants to is able to be here. Even if they did, in the end, there are 50 allocated seats.”

WHICH JUDICIARY DID THEY NOT TRUST IN?

Demirtaş said: “The president of this country didn’t send his son in for a deposition in the December 17-25 period. Erdoğan and Gül both said in separate occasions that they were the ones who stopped Hakan Fidan for going in for a deposition. Which judiciary did they not trust in? The one they wanted to send us to. He says that I am a terrorist. For one who was detained for insulting Atatürk, he said the matter is taken to the court, and it wouldn’t be right for him to pass judgement. When asked about Kavurmacı, he said it is a matter for the judiciary and he can’t pass judgement.

ONLY THE POLITICAL WILL CAN COORDINATE THIS

Demirtaş also spoke about the process after they were detained. On the simultaneous house raids against several MPs on November 4, 2016 on the order of 6 prosecutors, Demirtaş said: “This is something only the political will can coordinate.”

“FIRST THE DECISION WAS KANDIRA, THEN CHANGED TO EDIRNE”

Demirtaş spoke about their detention process and stated that on the day of their detention a plane was waiting in the Diyarbakır Airport to take them to prison. Demirtaş said as they were in detention, places for them were prepared in Silivri and Kanıra prisons, that his document was written for the Kandıra Prison, which was then later crossed out in front of him and Edirne prison written instead.

 “WE WERE THE SCAPEGOATS OF THE SOLUTION PROCESS”

Demirtaş stressed that they did so much for the success of the solution process and continued: “We had said, ‘One day if the solution process is successful, somebody will wear the medal. But if it fails, we will be asked to answer for it.’ The intermediaries are the first to be scapegoated in the solution process. One aspect of this case is this. A perception that ‘HDP and the Co-chair Demirtaş are responsible for the failure of the solution process’ was created and many summaries were written over this.”

“THE JUDICIARY WAS IN SUCH A HURRY”

Demirtaş stressed that they were taken to whichever prison was the furthest away where there was an ongoing case and said: “If the judiciary was in such a hurry that they had to raid our homes in the middle of the night and take us in, they could have just detained us from the parliament one day before. They were in such a hurry that they had to raid the homes. They put us in the holding cells for one day and then they immediately wanted to take our depositions. They wanted to put us in a court room as soon as possible. But the same judiciary is silent when the process takes one to a prison 1.150 km away. In the Edirne Prison, without any reason given, all our meetings had been recorded.”

ON THE CASE

This is the first time Demirtaş is present in the court room during the hearing of the main case he is in remand for. Demirtaş is charged with “founding and running a terrorist organization”, “terrorist propaganda” and “praising crimes and criminals” and facing a possible total of 142 years in prison. The case filed in Diyarbakır had been moved to the Ankara High Criminal Court No.19 citing security concerns. 33 lawsuits have been filed against Demirtaş in the last year, and this case heard today in the Ankara High Criminal Court No.19 is a combination of the 31 summaries sent to the Parliament to lift his immunity.