{"id":15467,"date":"2026-02-16T19:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/15467\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T19:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:37:08","slug":"turkey-seeks-prison-for-lawyer-in-pkk-linked-case-despite-key-witness-recanting-testimony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/15467\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey seeks prison for lawyer in PKK-linked case despite key witness recanting testimony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/stockholmcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Siar-Risvanoglu.png\" data-caption=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"443\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- alt=\"\" title=\"S\u0327iar Ris\u0327vanog\u0306lu\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Siar-Risvanoglu-696x443.png\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"443\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Siar-Risvanoglu-696x443.png\"   alt=\"\" title=\"S\u0327iar Ris\u0327vanog\u0306lu\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A Turkish prosecutor has sought a prison sentence for lawyer \u015eiar Ri\u015fvano\u011flu on charges of \u201cmembership in a terrorist organization,\u201d pressing ahead with the case despite a key witness retracting his earlier statement.<\/p>\n<p>The demand was made on Monday during the second hearing at the Adana 11th High Criminal Court, the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlsaturkey.com\/tr\/savcilik-avukat-siar-risvanoglu-icin-ceza-talep-etti\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a>. Merdan R\u00fc\u015ft\u00fc Oval\u0131o\u011flu, who had testified against Ri\u015fvano\u011flu and is currently in detention in a separate case, recanted his earlier statement during the first hearing.<\/p>\n<p>The indictment alleges that Ri\u015fvano\u011flu was involved in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party\u2019s (PKK) so-called \u201ccivilian area structuring,\u201d citing witness statements, call detail records and reports from Turkey\u2019s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) as evidence.<\/p>\n<p>The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, including the European Union and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Ri\u015fvano\u011flu, a member of the Progressive Lawyers Association (\u00c7HD), was detained on November 26, 2024, and later released under judicial supervision.<\/p>\n<p>In his defense Ri\u015fvano\u011flu said he has been repeatedly targeted due to his socialist identity and position on the Kurdish issue, referring to the Kurdish population\u2019s demand for equal rights and recognition. He denied any links to the PKK and instead identified himself as a founding member of the Revolutionary Workers Party (D\u0130P). He said he was targeted after his speech at the Adana Bar Association\u2019s general assembly on October 12, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Following the general assembly, Ri\u015fvano\u011flu\u2019s office was vandalized and his car\u2019s tires were slashed, on October 16, 2024. A threatening note signed by the \u201cTurkish Revenge Brigade\u201d was also left in his car.<\/p>\n<p>The third hearing in the case is scheduled for April 10.<\/p>\n<p>Turkey frequently brings terrorism-related charges against journalists, human rights advocates and lawyers, most commonly alleging links to the PKK. Human rights and press freedom groups say such cases often target activities that fall under freedom of expression or press freedom rather than involvement in violence and are used to deter dissenting voices on the Kurdish issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Turkish prosecutor has sought a prison sentence for lawyer \u015eiar Ri\u015fvano\u011flu on charges of \u201cmembership in a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[312,427,5954,11438,11439,11440,11441,131,132,154,155,11442],"class_list":{"0":"post-15467","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-human-rights","9":"tag-justice","10":"tag-kurdistan-workers-party-pkk","11":"tag-merdan-rustu-ovalioglu","12":"tag-progressive-lawyers-association-chd","13":"tag-revolutionary-workers-party-dip","14":"tag-siar-risvanoglu","15":"tag-stockholm","16":"tag-sweden","17":"tag-terrorism-charges","18":"tag-turkey","19":"tag-turkish-revenge-brigade"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}