Kurdish politician, lawyer and writer Mahmut Alinak was arrested on 17 February in Kars province on suspicion of “membership to a terrorist organisation”.

The Kurdish politician is accused of “disrupting the unity of the state” and “undermining the independence of the state” and faces life sentence.

Alınak has been released from prison following the first hearing held at the 2nd Heavy Penal Court of Kars on Wednesday.

The accusations highlighted in the 300-page indictment include Alınak’s conversations with his relatives, the proposal to mediate between two quarrelling families and the joint collection of garbage with the garbage collection service in Amed (Diyarbakir) which intended to raise public awareness of environmental protection. Alinak is also accused of having donated the proceeds of his book "Mehmet Tunç and Bêkes" to the family of the chairman of the local People's Council who died in one of the death basements of Cizre, Şırnak in 2016.

Who is Mahmut Alınak?

Mahmut Alınak was born in 1952 in Digor in the province of Kars. He studied law in Ankara and became a lawyer. In 1987 he entered the Turkish parliament for the first time as a member of the SHP. In 1994, after the lifting of parliamentary immunity, he was arrested together with Orhan Doğan, Hatip Dicle, Ahmet Türk, Sırrı Sakık and Leyla Zana. In prison he wrote his first two books.

Alınak was imprisoned several times. In 2011, he was arrested during the KCK operations and spent seven months in prison. In 2014 he spent another three months in prison.