ISTANBUL - Zilan Leventoğlu, the lawyer of former HDP deputy Hüda Kaya, who is arrested on the grounds of "suspicion of escaping", said that the investigation was carried out unlawfully from the beginning and that her arrest warrant is political.

 

Huda Kaya, former deputy of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), who was detained on November 1, 2023 within the scope of the Kobanê investigation opened by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and arrested by the Ankara 4th Criminal Court of Peace on the same day, is arrested in Marmara (Silivri) on the grounds that she had "escape suspicion" for more than 3 months. Kaya's lawyer, Zilan Leventoğlu, said that the investigation was carried out illegally and with political motives from the beginning. Emphasizing that there was a confidentiality order in the file and it was not removed despite their objections, Leventoğlu said: “All we know about the file is that an investigation was opened due to the Kobanê protests that took place on 6-8 October 2014. Apart from this, no information was given about the actions attributed to Ms. Huda during the statement and interrogation phase."

 

 

Zilan Leventoğlu

 

 

'POLICE DEPARTMENT SERVICED THE IMAGES'

 

Stating that Kaya's handcuffed picture was provided by the police while she was arrested, Leventoğlu said: “While Ms. Huda was being arrested and handcuffed, the Provincial Police Department unlawfully released the security camera pictures to the media. We also filed a criminal complaint regarding this. She is currently being held alone, and like most prisoners, there are problems, whether it is related to letters or meeting her needs."

 

'OUR RIGHT TO DEFENCE HAS BEEN RESTRICTED'

 

Emphasizing that they could not obtain any information about the file, Leventoğlu said: “Therefore, our right to defend against the acts directed towards us has been restricted. Following the investigation that started in July, we learned that although Ms. Huda was reachable for months, a 'fugitive' decision was made against her. Then, although we said our client was here many times, both written and verbal and although they said they wanted to testify, her statement was not taken in any way. And the 'illegality' decision was not abolished. Even though the ticket date and time were notified to the prosecutor's office by itself, she was detained and arrested at the airport. Since Ms. Huda was arrested, we have reflected in the press that this process was completely unlawful and we have stated it with evidence in the objections and demands we have written many times. Despite all this, the fact that our client did not run away and persistently ran away from her despite her repeated statements that ‘I am here’ is the clearest form of unlawfulness. As a matter of fact, the decision to continue detention magnifies this unlawfulness."

 

DECISIONS ARE POLITICAL

 

Pointing out that the decisions made about many politicians like Kaya are political, Leventoğlu continued as follows: "It is obvious that the current detention is not based on law and that the continuation of this detention will not be based on law. Therefore, when we look at it from a legal perspective, we see that Ms. Huda's detention must end as soon as possible. However, as I said, since the process is not based on law, evaluating this detention solely on legal grounds may not give the right result, unfortunately.”

 

'OUR STRUGGLE WILL CONTINUE'

 

Leventoğlu concluded her words as follows: “Together with Ms. Huda, we hope that all people whose freedoms have been usurped for political reasons will end these unlawful acts they are subjected to and regain their freedom as soon as possible. Our struggle will continue for this purpose.”

 

MA/ Ömer İbrahimoğlu