At the seventh hearing of the so-called "KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Leadership Committee" case in Istanbul, in which lawyers of the Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan are on trial, the court has ordered the release of four of the accused.

The case at the 16th High Criminal Court in Istanbul concerns 50 accused, 16 of them in custody, most of them lawyers for Abdullah Öcalan.

The judges announced their interim decision regarding the applications for release, deciding to release lawyers Mehmet Sani Kızılkaya, Asiye Ülker, Muhdi Öztüzün and Bedri Kuran.   

The court stated it had ordered the release of these detainees after taking into consideration the length of time they had spent in custody. The judges rejected once again defence counsel requests for Abdullah Öcalan to appear as a witness, and adjourned the trial until 8 April 2014.