On the 24th day of the trial against the Kurdish politician Kenan Ayaz in Hamburg, the court rejected all motions for evidence and accused the defence of spreading conspiracy theories.
The trial against the Kurdish politician Kenan Ayaz continued at Hamburg Higher Regional Court on Friday. On Tuesday, the 23rd day of the trial, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office had already countered the defence’s 53 motions for evidence with the accusation that they were spreading ‘conspiracy theories’ and not explaining how the arrest warrant against Kenan Ayaz had come about.
Cypriot lawyer Efstathios C. Efstathiou was also present on yesterday’s 24th day of the trial to support the defence team. Firstly, Kenan Ayaz was definitively cut off, as he was unable to finish his statement on the comments made by expert witness Günter Seufert. The court then rejected 44 of the motions for evidence put forward by the defence.
The court dealt at length with the fact that the defence had requested witnesses to prove that the investigation proceedings against Kenan Ayaz were being conducted in the interests of Turkey. The judge went so far as to claim that there was ‘no obvious connection to the proceedings’ with regard to Erdogan’s statements. The FAZ had quoted Erdogan, who had expressed his pleasure at the criminal proceedings before the Hamburg Higher Regional Court against an alleged ‘functionary of the Kurdish terrorist group PKK’ – i.e. the proceedings against Kenan Ayaz.
The court repeatedly accused the defence of failing to make specific requests for evidence because, for example, it was unable to state what was in certain requested files or which person was the owner of a telephone number. The latter shows the absurd situation in which Kenan Ayaz finds himself. He is effectively unable to mount a defence. The police interpret text messages and phone calls of which they do not know or cannot prove the owners of the numbers, and Kenan Ayaz is then supposed to refute the police’s claims by stating who the owners of the numbers are. For example, the court criticised him for requesting the identification of the users of Dutch numbers allegedly used by the European leadership of the PKK without saying who these users were. The only question is how he was supposed to know that. The court could not explain that either.
The court expressed in the many decisions that it is completely irrelevant what the defence requests, everything is rejected. In addition, the defence intervened once because the court even went so far as to claim that the defence itself had provided information about where Kenan Ayaz had been and what telephone number he had used. Lawyer Stephan Kuhn, one of the accused’s defence lawyers, made it clear that the defence had never claimed this and that the decision showed that the court had already made up its mind.
The trial was interrupted around midday and adjourned until 17 April. Further dates have been scheduled for 19, 24 and 26 April and 2 May. The trial will take place on the first floor of the Hamburg Higher Regional Court at Sievekingplatz 3, either in room 237 or 288, with hearings starting at 9.30 am.
Postal address and donation account
The website kenanwatch.org provides information in Greek, English and German about the trial and the protests in Cyprus and Germany. Kenan Ayaz is happy to receive mail. Letters can also be written in languages other than Kurdish or Turkish, as translation is guaranteed. Please note the spelling of the authority’s name ‘Ayas’ so that the letters can be delivered.
Kenan Ayas
Hamburg remand centre
Holstenglacis 3
20355 Hamburg
Donation account:
Rote Hilfe e.V. OG Hamburg
Keyword: Free Kenan
IBAN: DE06200100200084610203