Since Tuesday Dr. Banu Büyükavci, Dr. Sinan Aydin and Sami Solmaz are again behind bars. All three stand accused in the so-called TKP/ML trial which is, since a wave of arrests and raids in April 2014, being conducted by the German class judiciary. All three, although still on trial, had been released many months ago due to the disproportion of their imprisonment in the face of the court proceedings not actually leading anywhere. All of the three defendants have not abandoned their political work, but continue to be present at political events, such as the public event organized last year on occasion of their release from jail.

 

Henceforth, we document an (unofficial) translation of the report from the blog covering the trial:

06/25/2019: Dr. Banu Büyükavci, Dr. Sinan Aydin and Sami Solmaz again in custody!

At the end of this days session around 14:00 officers of the Bavarian special force USK entered the court, while Dr. Dauster, the chair of the judges, expressed that Mrs. Dr. Büyükavci, Mr. Dr. Aydin and Mr. Solmaz, including their defense attorneys and translators, would have to stay. Initially, the three were “held”. Thereafter, the chair declared the conduction of hearings. The Attorney General had applied to again enact the detention order that had not been in effect since 2/19/2018. The chair gave orders, that these hearings are to be conducted one at a time and without the right of the other interested parties in the case. Those defendants who were not effected as well as their defense attorneys had to leave the area of the court reserved for trials or were not allowed to enter it anymore. After brief hearing and council all three defendants were taken back into custody and consequently transported to the pretrial detention center.

In regards to how the court legitimized this procedure, there will be a more thorough report in this very place next week. Then the defense will make a more encompassing assessment. Before this however, the teams of the defense have to consult with their yet again imprisoned clients. Due to the, also again, ordered restriction and surveillance of communication between the clients and the defense attorneys (glass barrier) this is unnecessarily made massively more difficult.

The defense views the behavior of the Attorney General and the court senate as an attempt, to again increase the pressure on the defendants. Especially the fact, that the Attorney General and the court have so far not managed to get confessions, betrayal and expressions of regret from the defendants, could be the reasoning behind this procedures.