A court in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakır province issued arrest warrants Monday for two Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers for having ties with the PKK terror group.
Ayhan Bilgen, a deputy in the Turkish Parliament and the spokesperson for the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), along with another deputy Meral Danış Beştaş were detained over the weekend because of their refusal to give testimony despite the legal decree, but they were later released by the court.The prosecutor who opened the investigation objected the release as the court issued an arrest warrant again on Monday.
Later on Monday, another HDP lawmaker, Lezgin Botan was detained over an order by Van's 8th High Criminal Court.
Botan, HDP's Van deputy for the eastern Van province, was accused of spreading terrorist propaganda, incitement to crime and membership in an armed terrorist group. He faces up to 40 years in prison.
On Jan. 27, a court in the Van province had issued arrest warrants for Ayhan Bilgen and Lezgin Botan as they failed to appear at their ongoing trial.
The first hearing, last month, was postponed when the two lawmakers did not appear.
Seperately on Monday, a court in southeastern Turkey ordered the release on probation of an opposition lawmaker after nearly three months in prison on terrorism-related charges.
Idris Baluken, the parliamentary group leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), still faces charges of disrupting the unity of the state and country, membership in an armed terrorist group, spreading terrorist propaganda, and taking part in unauthorized meetings and marches.
Baluken, ordered released by Diyarbakır's 8th High Criminal Court, was among 10 of the party's deputies arrested and remanded in custody in early November after their parliamentary immunity was lifted.Following his arrest at HDP headquarters in Ankara, Baluken was taken to Bingöl in eastern Turkey, where he was the first of the deputies to be remanded in custody.
Last November, 13 HDP lawmakers were arrested and 10 of them, including HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, remain in custody awaiting trial on terrorism-related charges.
The HDP deputies were arrested after they failed to answer a summons to testify as part of a counter-terrorism investigation.
The government has accused the HDP of having links to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU.