Indictments were produced by FETÖ members: Jailed former HDP co-chair Demirtaş

ANKARA

Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned former co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has said the indictments in the case in which he is being tried were prepared by now-imprisoned Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) suspects in the judiciary.

Speaking in his defense in the hearing at Ankara’s Sincan Prison Courthouse on Feb. 15, Demirtaş blasted the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for instrumentalizing “unlawful” indictments.

“You have included all these plots produced by FETÖ members in the [case] file, in order to utilize them against HDP members. All the audio surveillance and records are illegal. They were distorted and changed. People have been depicted as members of an illegal organization. This is a plot, this is a trap,” he said.

Ankara’s 19th Heavy Criminal Court is hearing the case against Demirtaş, in which he is being tried on charges of “leading a terrorist organization.” He faces up to 140 years in prison if found guilty.

Standing in the dock on the second day of the hearing, Demirtaş said that FETÖ members infiltrated into the judiciary and police officers produced “distorted and altered” recordings and evidence in his name, which were later included in the indictments leading to his imprisonment.

He noted that all judiciary members who had ordered his audio surveillance when he was the co-leader of HDP and a lawmaker are now in prison on suspicion of being members of FETÖ.

“They gave orders for audio surveillance. When you look at the signatures and the team that made the surveillance, all of them are now arrested,” Demirtaş said.

He also stated that FETÖ members aimed to hamper the peace process between Ankara and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) by “creating distrust between the parties.”

“There is a political will to solve the Kurdish problem in peaceful ways and methods. Every time this will has emerged, the [FETÖ] network has intervened via the judiciary and the media,” said Demirtaş.

“But the network’s operations interfering with my case and the peace process [with the PKK] have been ignored and covered up,” he added.

Stating that none of the summaries of proceedings against him in parliament included the accusation that he “led a terrorist organization,” he said his imprisonment violated his legislative immunity.

“If the prosecutor wants to file a case about that, a summary of proceedings on this accusation should be prepared and submitted to parliament,” Demirtaş said.

He also noted that some of the accusations in the indictment were acts taken within the framework of the peace process, which collapsed in summer 2015, and “in accordance with the law.”

“[Some of the summaries of proceedings] were acts that we have conducted in coordination with the government within the framework of the solution process and within this law,” said the former HDP co-chair.