HDP co-chair Demirtaş expected to appear before court for first time

ISTANBUL

The jailed Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş is expected to appear before the court on Jan. 12 for the first time since his arrest.

Demirtaş, who is currently in prison in the western province of Edirne, will stand trial on Jan. 12 for charges of “insulting the president,” with the comments he made towards Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Dec. 24, 2015 at the Istanbul Atatürk Airport on his way home from Russia.

A previous ruling handed down by the Bakırköy 38th Criminal Court of First Instance in Istanbul had ruled for Demirtaş to attend the hearing in person on Jan. 12.

Demirtaş has been imprisoned since Nov. 4, 2016 in the Edirne F-type prison on charges of terrorism. The first hearing for his case took place on Dec. 7, 2017, but again in his absence.

The HDP co-chair refused to link to the court room via an audiovisual system, after the court board had cited security reasons for not bringing him to the court in person. As a result, he was absent from the hearing.

The court ruled for Demirtaş to remain in prison until the next hearing for his trial on Feb. 14.