Turkey: Former DEP deputies’ trial continues

The former DEP deputies’ lawyer Yusuf Alatas said during the trial that they want to introduce three witnesses to the court in order to refute the claims that the former deputies had forced the village guards to leave their weapons and participate to the terrorist organization.

The three witnesses, Naif Aslan, Aziz Isik and Mahmut Dogan said that the former deputies did not demand them to give up village guard duty.

“EU LAWS SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED”

Stating that the European Union laws are amended on the paper but they are not being implemented, Leyla Zana said in her defense that they are absolved in terms of public conscience. “DGM does not response to changes and represent the status quo,” Zana said.

In addition, Selim Sadak said echoing Zana that they are absolved in public conscious. Sadak said that the accordance laws did not make any changes in the DGMs.

The former DEP deputies, Dicle and Zana, former Sirnak deputies Dogan and Sadak were sentenced to 15 years under the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

The DEP deputies are being retrialed under the EU accordance law since the European Court of Human Rights decisions are amended through the right to be retrialed.