Jailed pro-Kurdish leader appears in court for first time

Selahattin Demirtas was given a hero’s welcome by supporters as he arrived at the Istanbul courthouse for a case where he is charged with “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It is one of 96 legal cases that have enmeshed the politician.

The charismatic outgoing co-chairman is the best-known face of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which he led to great success in June 2015 polls when it entered parliament for the first time.

A smiling Demirtas, 44, wearing a black suit and white shirt saluted those chanting “chief” as he was surrounded by members of the gendarmerie.

Over 1,000 people gathered outside the court in the district of Bakirkoy, an AFP photographer said, as they chanted “Demirtas is our honour” and “shoulder to shoulder against fascism!”.

In his testimony, Demirtas hit out at the trials taking place against him in which he has been unable to defend himself and insisted his immunity from prosecution as an MP was still valid.

Selahattin Demirtas worked as a human rights lawyer before moving into politics

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“I have immunity as much as all MPs in parliament, I have immunity as much as (prime minister) Binali Yildirim,” he told the court.

In May 2016, a law was passed lifting 138 MPs immunity from prosecution. The HDP has previously said the measure is aimed at expelling its MPs from parliament.

Demirtas called for his conditional release but the judge said the request had to be presented in writing for “detailed examination”, before postponing the trial to May 17.

In the most serious case against Demirtas, which is being heard in Ankara, the former human rights lawyer is accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who have waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies. If convicted, he faces up to 142 years in that case.

Demirtas was among 12 HDP MPs taken into custody in November 2016 under the state of emergency imposed following the failed overthrow of Erdogan in July of that year.

Now, nine MPs including Demirtas remain in jail including the party’s former co-leader Figen Yuksekdag who was stripped of her MP status in February 2016.

She resigned in May last year as co-leader and Demirtas last week said he would also step down as co-chairman of the party at a congress next month, fearing that he would likely remain imprisoned.