Hearing of HDP Amed MP Nursel Aydoğan, who was jailed in the operation against HDP deputies on November 4, 2016 and faces up to 103 years in jail, began at Diyarbakır 4th Heavy Penal Court today. Aydoğan attended the hearing through video conference SEGBİS from Silivri Prison where she is kept.

In her statement of defence, Aydoğan stressed that they were stripped off parliamentary immunity, imprisoned and prosecuted because of the results of June 7 elections in which AKP couldn't win the majority to form the government. Aydoğan described these actions against HDP deputies as unlawfulness, citing the Constitutional Court's related ruling made in 2013 that members of the parliament cannot be jailed pending trial.

Remarking that judiciary is also under the pressure of the government, Aydoğan said it was pretty difficult to explain the legal grounds of the operation in which 13 HDP deputies were arrested on November 4. She noted that this operation against HDP MPs was planned in Ankara.

Aydoğan refuted the accusations that her political activities within DTK (Democratic Society Congress) were illegal, and recalled that DTK was a civil and democratic entity.

Asked about her participation in the funeral ceremonies for PKK members, Aydoğan said it was her duty to stand with the people that elected her, and to share their sorrow, pains and troubles.

Aydoğan emphasised that PKK emerged due to the policies of denial and assimilation pursued against Kurds, and that solution of the Kurdish question can only be achieved through dialogue and negotiation, as is also the case in various examples around the world.

HDP MP noted that she was kept in a cell during the first three months of her imprisonment, and was denied access to hospital for refusing to be treated with handcuffs.

Following her defense, the court ruled Aydoğan's release on condition of judicial control in consideration of the time she spent in jail.