Rabia Çetin
A Turkish court on Friday ordered the expansion of proceedings in the long-running trial of lawyer Seda Şaraldı and 11 others accused of “membership in a terrorist organization,” after one of the defendants agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. The brief hearing lasted about 10 minutes.
The 21st hearing in the case, held at the Istanbul 32nd High Criminal Court, began with a delay of around 20 minutes and was attended only by Şaraldı and her lawyers among the defendants.
Following identity verification, the prosecutor requested a broadening of the prosecution (tevsi-i tahkikat), citing that one of the defendants, Bahar Ertürk, had become an informant. The court accepted the request.
Asked for her defense statement regarding the request, Şaraldı said she would not present arguments at this stage. Her lawyer, Naim Eminoğlu, asked the court to lift a judicial control measure imposing a travel ban on his client.
The court rejected the request to remove the travel restriction.
Şaraldı, a member of the Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD), is being tried over allegations tied to her professional legal activities, according to the case file. The next hearing was scheduled for Oct. 22 at 10 a.m.
