The third hearing of the case against Kurdish politicians Veysel S., Agit K., Evrim A., Ozkan T. and Cihan A. where scandalous practices have been imposed was heard in the Stamheim prison courtroom today at 09:00 in Stuttgart, Germany. The five politicians are accused of membership to the PKK.

The hearings on April 16 and May 8 were held with defendants placed in a glass cage, and there had been frequent arguments due to issues with translators and technical issues.

The panel of judges ordered the defendants to be seated with the lawyers outside the glass cage upon appeals in the two earlier hearings.

The issue with translations was also resolved in the third hearing. In the earlier hearings, translators had been in a separate area outside the courtroom, but the lawyers, defendants and translators were seated together in the third hearing.

The courtroom is now divided into two sections. The panel of judges, the lawyers and the translators are in one section and the audience is in the other.

The indictment was read out loud and stated that Ocalan still guides the organization and he is still the decision maker.

The indictment pointed out that the actions in Turkey are geared towards military targets and argued that Veysel S. is an officer in the organization.

The prosecutor spoke about the PKK’s military actions in Turkey mentioned in the indictment and cited the admissions of a man named Ridvan O. The indictment was prepared based on the statements of this man who was not present in the court. The prosecutor argued that Veysel S. was the main officer of the organization in the Stuttgart area. The hearing took a break after the reading of the indictment and will continue in the afternoon.