The testimonies by Diyarbakýr Mayor Osman Baydemir and former U.S. ambassador James P. Cain have been rejected by the court celebrating the RojTV trial. The court has on the contrary accepted some village guards including Hazým Babat who burnt six people to death as witnesses.



The court of the ROJ TV trial has rejected the testimonies by Diyarbakýr Mayor Osman Baydemir, Diyarbakýr deputy Leyla Zana, BDP former General Comptroller Salih Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project Director Kerim Yýldýz, former U.S. Ambassador James P. Cain, Danish journalist Jacob Svendsen, former Hakkari mayor Metin Tekçe, academician and writer Haluk Gerger and Danish Media Secretary Christian Scherfig on the grounds of the “political identity" of Kurdish witnesses and the “lack of a direct interest in the case" of the other witnesses.

On the other hand, Danish prosecutors at the court, with the support of Turkish authorities, accepted the testimony of village guards and confessors who gave statements in Turkey against the Roj TV. Among the witnesses are Yusuf Sut, Osman Öztürk, Ebubekir Ekçe, Aydýn Tuzcak, Serdar Aslan, Nadir Tosun, Cemil Korkut, Yasin Benek and Hazým Babat who is responsible for the deaths of six people burnt to death.

Defense lawyer Biorn Elmquist demanded to see all the documents concerning the relevant witnesses, remarking that he will file an opposition to the superior court against the witnessing of the mentioned village guards and confessors.

Following the decision of the Court about the witnesses, the prosecution continued the presentation of ROJ TV images and offering “evidences” basing on these images, while defense lawyer objected to the presentation, arguing that the images were prepared in a way to allow for misunderstanding.

The presentation of the images will be continued at the hearing on Wednesday when Roj TV administrators will also be heard at the court.