Gültan Kışanak and Sebahat Tuncel were arrested in autumn 2016 and were sentenced to long prison terms in February 2019 on terrorism charges. Kışanak was sentenced to 14 years and three months, Tuncel to 15 years imprisonment for "founding and running an illegal organisation" and "spreading organisation propaganda". In 2019 a Turkish court of appeal overturned the sentence against Sebahat Tuncel and Gültan Kışanak. Since mid-January, the new trial has been held at the 5th Heavy Penal Court of Malatya.

Kışanak and Tuncel, jailed in Kandira women's prison, attended the hearing via video conferencing system SEGBIS. Both condemned the arrest operations against Kurdish women politicians and said they wanted to make their defence in the courtroom at the next trial. The hearing was adjourned to 4 September.