On September 25, Kenan Ayas’ defense team filed a motion with the Hamburg Higher Regional Court to Dismiss the charges and release Kenan Ayas from custody.
The defence argued that the indictment filed by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office on August 3 does not provide sufficient grounds to go to trial. The indictment does not accuse Kenan Ayas of anything other than being a member of PKK. In particular, he is not accused of any acts of violence or involvement in PKK attacks. The defence argued that the prosecution’s case is mainly based on unsubstantiated information from the German secret service, mere assumptions about how PKK allegedly works in Germany and text messages that, according to the prosecutor’s reading, refer to participation in demonstrations, meetings and collecting donations. They showed that even under the broad anti-terror laws in Germany, this is not enough reason to try Kenan Ayas.
Now the court must decide whether to dismiss the case completely or at least some of the charges, or whether to send the case to trial.
If the court does not dismiss the charges, the defence has also requested the conditional release of Kenan Ayas.
They argue that the detention was particularly harsh for him and that after more than six months of detention, the principle of proportionality justifies his release. In the motion, the defence gave the court a brief overview of the severe persecution that Kenan Ayas has suffered in Turkey. They showed that as a survivor of torture who was unjustly imprisoned in Turkey at a very young age, the renewed imprisonment is very hard for him. They emphasized that the very harsh conditions in Hamburg prison to which he has been subjected. Furthermore, the defence argued that Kenan Ayas would not abscond from the proceedings if he were released but would stand trial in Hamburg with the aim of returning to Cyprus as soon as possible. Any attempt to flee Germany would be dangerous for him since he might be extradited to Turkey. There are indications that Turkey has asked Interpol to issue a red notice against him which could lead to an arrest in any country and extradition to Turkey where he would face severe political persecution. Only Germany will not extradite him to Turkey because they have assured Cyprus that there will be no extradition of Kenan Ayas to Turkey. The Court must also rue on this motion.
Berlin, Frankfurt, Nicosia, September 28th
Defence attorney for Kenan Ayas:
Rechtsanwältin (lawyer) Antonia von der Behrens, Berlin/Germany
Rechtsanwalt(Lawyer) Stephan Kuhn, Frankfurt am Main/Gerrmany, and
Advocate Efstathios C. Efsthathiou, Nicosia, Cyprus