Prosecutor submits summary of proceedings for 19 HDP deputies
ANKARA
Summaries of proceedings against a total of 19 deputies from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were submitted to the Justice Ministry on Dec. 4.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office submitted the motions for the deputies over “propaganda for a terrorist group” in the corridors of parliament when they were leaving a constitutional commission meeting on May 2, 2016.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the MPs chanted slogans in support of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan, while also singing pro-PKK songs, when they were heading to their parliamentary group hall. The incident took place after the HDP deputies left a meeting where the lifting of their parliamentary immunities was discussed.
Ankara anti-terror police launched efforts to apprehend those who chanted pro-PKK slogans alongside the lawmakers and detained several people, including HDP advisors.
In addition to Ankara, an operation was also conducted in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır in relation to the incident.
A number of individuals were detained by police, accused of “making propaganda of a terrorist group and chanting slogans that indicate one’s membership of or support for a terrorist group.”
They were later released on condition of judicial control.
