ANKARA - The 22nd Criminal Court, which handled the Kobanê Trial, sent the file to the 23rd Criminal Court before the time of appeal against the recusation request made by the lawyers during the hearing and before the appeal petitions are submitted.

 

The Ankara 22nd Criminal Court, which handled the Kobanê Trial, in which 108 people, 28 of whom were detained, were on trial, sent the file to the 23rd Criminal Court without waiting for the objections to be made against the recusation.

 

According to the news of Zemo Ağgöz from Mesopotamia Agency, during the hearing held on April 26 at the Ankara 22nd Criminal Court, lawyers, and Figen Yüksekdağ, Selahattin Demirtaş, former co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Sebahat Tuncel have demanded a recusation. The court board decided that "requests for recusation should be given in writing, and that the requests for recusation made during the hearing should be rejected at this stage."

 

Thereupon, some lawyers submitted their petitions containing requests for recusation on the hearing day to the court through National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP). The court board, which announced its interim decision, gave time for Demirtaş, Yüksekdağ and Tuncel to submit their request for recusation, rejecting the lawyers' request for the recusation because it was "intended to prolong the hearing" and decided that it was open to appeal to the Ankara 23rd Criminal Court.

 

The file was sent to the higher court without waiting for an objection

 

According to the Law of Criminal Procedure (CMK), the objection period specified by the court is 7 days. The lawyers also submitted their appeal to the court on the last day of the appeal, May 3. However, it was learned that the court sent the file to the 23rd Criminal Court on April 29, without obtaining the petitions of appeal. The names of many lawyers and the attorneys of Sabahat Tuncel and Figen Yüksekdağ, who requested a recusation during the trial, were not included in the "objection regarding the rejection of the request for recusation" sent to the Ankara 23rd Criminal Court without waiting for the objection of the lawyers.

 

Recusation has been requested

 

The lawyers of the politicians submitted their petition containing the request for recusation to the 22nd Criminal Court to be sent to the 23rd High Criminal Court. In the petition submitted by the lawyers of Figen, "Our request for recusation was rejected by the court board on the grounds that" it was made to extend the trial"; It has been clearly understood that the court board acts to conclude the trial as soon as possible with incomplete, erroneous, and unlawful proceedings, as it stands, the court cannot make an impartial, independent, fair and honest trial. For this reason, we demand that the decision for the rejection of our recusation is lifted and that our request for recusation is accepted.”

 

‘It has been removed from being a fair trial’

 

In the petition submitted by Sabahat's lawyers, "In the trial; They have acted without complying with principles such as impartiality, honesty, equality and diligence, the right to defense is not arbitrarily allowed without stating a concrete, understandable legal or material reason, and they have removed the trial from being a fair trial by not providing procedural safeguards as a whole, so we reject them on behalf of the client”.

 

‘Revoke a decision’

 

In the petition presented by the lawyers of Selahattin Demirtaş, it was stated that "the decision of rejecting the recusation is subject to an objection, this issue is an interim decision; We request that the decision to send the file to the Ankara 23rd Criminal Court be withdrawn before the objection period expires and before the appeal petitions are submitted. We request that the appeal period and the submission of appeal petitions wait, the decision of April 26, 2021, to be rejected and the recusation request is accepted, otherwise, the file is sent to Ankara 23rd Criminal Court following CMK 268 et al. to decide on the same issue."