The trial on terrorism charges opens today in the Sincan prison court in Ankara for which over a year ago, in November 2016, Selahattin Demirtas, leader and deputy of the pro-Kurdish HDP party in Turkey, was arrested. The leader will be tried for his alleged links with militiamen from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by the Turkish government.
Prior to his arrest, Demirtas was considered one of President Erdogan's main rivals, capable of bringing his political movement to parliament.
The Kurdish leader is also imputed in other processes. For him, various prosecutors have asked hundreds of years in prison.
After 399 days of pre-trial detention in the maximum security prison in the north-west region of Edirne, the former presidential candidate of the Republic asked not to be brought to court in handcuffs, a condition previously rejected by other judges.
To represent the "Obama Kurdish", which risks 142 years of imprisonment, 1.250 lawyers declared themselves to be voluntary, but the authorities chose to limit the right of defense in the process, which international observers are expected from a dozen countries.
His party accused the Turkish government of having imprisoned Demirtas, who always declared himself innocent, for political reasons and called for "immediate release" along with the other 8 HDP deputies detained.