The final hearing of Kurdish activist Kenan Ayaz, who was extradited from Cyprus on a German arrest warrant, took place today at the Hamburg State Court. Ayaz was sentenced to 4 years and 3 months in prison.

Ayaz was arrested at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus in March 2023 on the basis of a European arrest warrant requested by the Federal Court of Justice and extradited to Germany at the beginning of June. Since then, he has been detained in Hamburg's Holstenglacis remand prison under stricter prison conditions.

Before the hearing, a solidarity rally was organised in front of the court building.

Dozens of people attended the rally organised by the Hamburg Committee for Solidarity with Kenan Ayaz. Writer and women's rights activist Anja Flach said that Kenan Ayaz gave a lesson in humanity to the court in his defence during the trial.

“Let's show our solidarity not only with Ayaz but with all political prisoners,” said Anja Flach, adding that whatever the verdict, they will always be in action for the freedom of Kenan Ayaz and other political prisoners.

At the final hearing held at 14.15 in the afternoon, the court committee stated that Kenan Ayaz was sentenced to 4 years and 3 months in prison for allegedly taking high-level responsibility within the PKK between 2018-2019 and carrying out activities within this framework.

‘By supporting Erdoğan, you support the ISIS terrorists’

Kenan Ayaz, who welcomed the decision of the court with great composure and a victory sign, said the following:

“Whatever the verdict, I am a soldier of my people's struggle for freedom. While the most beautiful women of the world defeated the ugliest men of the world in Rojava, your court is prosecuting me, seeking to sentence me to please the ugliest of these ugly men, the dictator Erdoğan. No matter what sentence you give, it will never stop me from my struggle for freedom. You are prosecuting me and my friends only to please the Turkish state and Erdoğan. By supporting Erdoğan, you support the ISIS terrorists at the same time. This support comes back to your people as death in Solingen and Mannheim. While remembering the people who lost their lives in these dastardly attacks with respect, I send my condolences to the families and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded. Your courts, which ignore the terror of ISIS and Erdoğan, contradict your own law by prosecuting us who want to express their demands through democratic means.”

Kenan Ayaz finally expressed his greetings and love to the people of Kurdistan who did not leave him alone, to his German friends in the person of Anja Flach and to all the Cypriot people who fought for him in Cyprus.

Immediately after the court announced its decision, a group of 40 people in the courtroom reacted by chanting the slogans ‘Bijî Serok Apo’ (Long Live Leader Öcalan) and ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadî’ (Woman, Life, Freedom).

Lawyer Kühl: We will appeal the verdict

Kenan Ayaz's lawyer, Stefan Kühl, said that the verdict was unacceptable and scandalous and that they would appeal the verdict within a week.

Kühl stated that Kenan Ayaz expressed his thoughts with great determination throughout the trial and said that his client was a person who fought for the freedom of his people.

Hamburg Left Party MP Cansu Özdemir stated that the verdict was unacceptable and full of scandals. “The court has once again made the Erdoğan regime happy with this verdict,” she added.

‘No different from Turkish courts’

Politician Selma Irmak emphasised that there was nothing legal about the verdict because the sentence was handed for Kenan Ayaz's thoughts. Stating that Kenan Ayaz had never been involved in violence and had expressed his thoughts through politics, Selma Irmak said: “In fact, the sentence means ‘you will not do politics, we are preventing your right to do politics’ to the Kurds.”

Politician Nihat Akdoğan, on the other hand, stated that German courts were taking Turkish courts as an example for themselves. Akdoğan said, “I do not see any difference between German prosecutors sentencing Kurdish politicians with a “copy and paste” logic and the trial of Kurdish politicians in Turkey under the name of the “KCK case”. Wherever you are in the world, if you are Kurdish and you defend the struggle for freedom, they make you pay for it in some way.”