Former MP arrested in KCK case

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

An Istanbul court ordered the capture of four people yesterday as part of the ongoing Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) trials, including Mahmut Alınak, a former deputy from the Democracy Party (DEP).
Alınak was taken into custody in the eastern province of Kars, while lawyer Mehmet Ayata was detained in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. The other two suspects, lawyers Yalçın Sarıtaş and Sabahat Zeynep Arat, have yet to be detained by law enforcement officials.
Alınak was later arrested.
A request for the release of 33 lawyers and one more suspect who are under arrest in connection with the KCK case was also turned down by the court.
Law enforcement detained 42 lawyers and four other suspects Nov. 22 in simultaneous operations in 16 provinces across Turkey. Later, 34 of the suspects were then transferred to court in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district where they were arrested, while nine suspects, including Alınak, were released. The 11th Court for Serious Crimes, however, overturned that decision yesterday and ordered the capture of four of those nine suspects.
The KCK is the alleged urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).