HDP MP, deputy parliament speaker Pervin Buldan released after testifying in Istanbul

ISTANBUL 

Kurdish issue-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Istanbul MP and deputy parliament speaker Pervin Buldan was released on Dec. 23 after briefly testifying to a prosecutor in Istanbul, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Buldan was detained by the police at her residence in Istanbul in the early hours of the morning.  

“I have been detained,” Buldan tweeted, as the party’s official Twitter account also confirmed her detention.

Buldan gave an additional testimony to the prosecutor at the 6th Court of Serious Crimes at the Bakırköy Courthouse as a part of a lawsuit filed against her on charges of “praising crime and the guilty” and “engaging in terror propaganda” by the Iğdır Court of Serious Crimes. 

She later left the courthouse with her lawyer after giving testimony.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, Buldan said she was forcibly brought to court after refusing to testify.

“I told them that this situation was unlawful,” she said.

Earlier, 12 MPs from the party, including its co-leaders, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were arrested in November over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).