Two remaining arrested suspects in KCK case released

DİYARBAKIR - Doğan News Agency

In this file photo from last month, Hatip Dicle (L) speaks after being released after four and a half years in jail. Dicle is a leading figure in the Kurdish politics.

The remaining two arrested people in the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial were released July 11 by a Diyarbakır court, as the hearings will continue.

The same court in the southeastern province had released 30 of the 32 arrested suspects in the main case against the KCK, the urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Some 175 suspects, including Hasan Hüseyin Ebem and Abdullah Aflatun were tried on July 11 hearing.
The court decided on the release of Ebem and Aflatun due to the long detention periods and poor evidence.

New legislation prepared by the government that was accepted by Parliament in early 2014 had reduced the pre-trial detention limit from 10 to five years.

The same court decided on June 28 to release Hatip Dicle, a leading member of the Kurdish problem-focused Democracy Party (DEP), which was banned by the Constitutional Court in 1994, as well as Hüsamettin Çiçek, former deputy mayor of the Bağlar district of the Diyarbakır province.