Turkish court orders release of imprisoned pro-Kurdish Party MP

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - A Turkish court in the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Friday decided to release lawmaker and former spokesperson for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Ayhan Bilgen, from prison.

Bilgen has been in an Istanbul jail pending trial for over eight months, following his third arrest in late January.

However, as the criminal court approved Bilgen's release upon his lawyers' request, the trial against him will still proceed, according to Kurdistan 24's Turkish language website.

The Istanbul prison officials were yet to set Bilgen free at the time of this report's publication.

Prosecutors have asked up to 23 years of imprisonment for Bilgen for allegedly receiving orders from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to incite violence.

Judicial authorities, which the HDP has accused of taking orders from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also charged Bilgen with membership to the PKK and violating laws that regulate speech and protests.

An indictment against him alleged that the top PKK commander, Murat Karayilan, who is leading a decades-long armed campaign against Turkish troops, sent instructions via Twitter to Bilgen during the deadly November 2014 Kurdish riots.

During the first trial since he was first detained held last month, he rejected the allegations, calling the indictment a setup.

The riots in question resulted in the death of 47 civilians and several police officers. They broke out in over a dozen cities after a decision by the HDP to protest Ankara's inaction and perceived support toward the Islamic State (IS) group, which at the time was laying a months-long siege on the Kurdish town of Kobani in northern Syria.

Bilgen represents his northeastern home province of Kars and is a member of the human rights commission in the Turkish Parliament.

While a court ordered Bilgen's release, ten pro-Kurdish lawmakers who have been the target of a massive government crackdown since last year, including the HDP's charismatic leader Selahattin Demirtas, remain in jail.

Editing by G.H. Renaud