The 13th day of the main hearing in the trial against Kenan Ayaz for membership of the PKK took place on Monday. Witness L., head of the evaluation department of the Hamburg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV), was heard for the second time.
On Monday (15 January 2024), witness L. was heard for the second time in the trial against Kenan Ayaz before the Hamburg Higher Regional Court. However, he was only able or willing to answer some of the unanswered questions from the first hearing. Among other things, it was necessary to clarify what the LfV informer had said about which geographical unit – area, region, sector – Kenan Ayaz was supposedly the leader of. L. retracted his statement of 10 January that Kenan Ayaz was the sector leader, but stated that the source had only stated that he was the area leader of Hamburg. According to L., however, this was a double leadership in that the Hamburg area manager was always also the regional manager. He had concluded this from the files of previous managers, which were to be regarded as general findings.
The question of when Ayaz’s responsibility ended could not be clearly answered either. It is unclear whether this was in January or March 2019. However, the witness stated that their informer had stated that a new area and regional manager would have arrived in March 2019 at the latest. This is in contrast to the prosecution, which claims a longer period of time.
When the defence wanted to know how long the informer had worked for the LfV Hamburg before and after the information about Kenan Ayaz (September 2018 to January 2019), the witness remained silent. The reason given for refusing to answer was that statements in this regard might allow conclusions to be drawn about the identity of the person recruited. This caused astonishment, as L. was still able to testify at the last hearing that the informant had worked for the LfV Hamburg for at least five years retroactively from 2018. The defence rightly stated that there was now more confusion than before today’s hearing.
In addition, there was obviously no plausibility check of the information provided by the V-Person. For example, the witness was unable to state that his department had checked the information provided by the informer against other information from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution or an earlier judgement by the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court, in which different facts were claimed than those provided by the Hamburg informer.
Trusted interpreter rejected
Finally, an application for a liaison interpreter was once again rejected by the court. The defence had again applied for a trusted interpreter because the court will appoint a new interpreter on the next day of the trial who does not have the trust of the defence. The defence argued that the court was summoned in the knowledge that this interpreter does not enjoy the trust of the defence, although an interpreter would have been available with whom the defence also works for the defence interviews. The court thus not only wants to clarify who has the say in the courtroom, but also to determine even further with whom the defence works and who should and should not enjoy its trust.
Today, expert witness Dr Günter Seufert will be heard for the fourth time. Further trial dates, each from 9.30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Hamburg Higher Regional Court (Sievekingplatz 3), room 237:
Wednesday, 17.1.2024
Thursday, 25 January 2024
Friday, 26 January 2024
Monday, 29 January 2024
Monday, 5 February 2024
Tuesday, 6 February 2024
Thursday, 8 February 2024
Monday, 12 February 2024
Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Friday, 16 February 2024
Monday, 26 February 2024
The kenanwatch.org website provides information in Greek, English and German about the trial and the protests in Cyprus and Germany. The solidarity initiative says: ‘Kenan Ayaz is happy to receive mail. Even if you don’t speak Kurdish or Turkish, write to him, as the mail can also be translated. Be sure to write ‘Ayas’ so that the letters are also delivered to him.’
Kenan Ayas
Hamburg remand centre
Holstenglacis 3
20355 Hamburg
Donation account:
Rote Hilfe e.V. OG Hamburg
Keyword: Free Kenan
IBAN : DE06200100200084610203