BDP deputies in front row to protest Danish case against Roj TV

The group of Kurds gathered at a square in front of the courthouse before the hearing began. Ayla Akatata, Nazmi Gür and Nursel Aydoğan, deputies from the BDP, were among the group.

Gür called Roj TV “the voice of Kurds,” and suggested that the case was opened upon a trilateral agreement between Danish, Turkish and US officials.

“There are judges in Denmark,” Gür said, adding that they are used to these kinds of manipulated cases in Turkey, too.

Roj TV has a Danish broadcasting license but has no studios in Denmark.

During the first hearing, prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen said Roj TV “glorifies” and promotes the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the European Union.

Defense lawyer Bjoern Elmquist, however, said the TV station denies having promoted the PKK.

Elmquist came to the court with bags full of files and claimed that deputy prosecutors Anders Riisager and Jakob Bush Jebsen of the Copenhagen Police Department were biased in the process of collecting evidence. The lawyer alleged that the two officials had been to Turkey many times, had talks with Turkish officials and accepted gifts from Turks, resulting in a loss of their impartiality.

In response to Elmquist’s allegations, deputy prosecutor Riisager stated that “the lawyer was showing off” and that it was natural for them to travel to Turkey to gather evidence and have talks with Turkish officials.

“Turkey is the plaintiff; the talks we had with the officials were done transparently,” Riisager said.

Elmquist requested the court to replace Riisager and Jebsen in a move that would foreclose the case, a move the court rejected.

Danish police stepped up security measures around the courthouse, allowing people inside only after heavy security checks.

Turkish Ambassador to Denmark Berki Dibek was among those following the hearing. The media, contrary to expectations, showed little interest in the case.