Kobani indictment for 5 former HDP deputies

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has prepared an indictment against 5 former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputies regarding the Kobani protests of October 6-8, 2014.

5 FORMER HDP DEPUTIES NAMED AS 'SUSPECTS'

In the indictment sent to the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court, which recently reached a verdict in the case involving 108 defendants regarding the Kobani protests, former HDP deputies Hüda Kaya, Serpil Kemalbay Pekgözegü, Garo Paylan, Fatma Kurtulan, and Pero Dundar were named as "suspects."

The indictment noted that during the protests across the country on October 6-8, 2014, calls were made by PKK/KCK terrorist organization leaders, structures affiliated with the organization, and HDP Central Executive Board members and co-chairs for the public to take to the streets and carry out terrorist acts.

The indictment stated that in the incidents across 35 provinces, 96 districts, and 131 settlements, primarily in the East and Southeast, 37 people were killed, 29 were victims of attempted murder, and 326 security personnel and 435 citizens were injured. It was further reported that 3,777 counts of property damage, 25 counts of abduction, 395 counts of theft, 15 counts of looting, 308 counts of violation of workplace and residential immunity, 13 counts of burning the Turkish flag, and 7 counts of violating the Law on Crimes Committed Against Atatürk were committed.

The indictment stated that the suspects Kaya, Pekgözegü, and Paylan, who were deputies at the time of the events, as well as 27th-term deputies Kurtulan and Dundar, were in unity of thought and action with the 108 defendants being tried for the same crimes at the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court regarding the initiation and execution of the October 6-8 events. For these reasons, it was stated that the suspects "should be held responsible for the crimes committed as a result of the action calls made as announced by the HDP Headquarters."

The indictment includes 2,674 victims or complainants, some of whom are legal entities.

If the indictment is accepted, the suspects will be tried for the murder of 37 people, including Yasin Börü and his friends, and for disrupting the unity and integrity of the state, facing 38 aggravated life sentences each, in addition to various prison terms for other charged crimes.