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UK: Appeal hearing postponed

01 May 1996

The appeal of European PKK leader Kani Yilmaz against his extradition to Germany, due to start in May, was postponed again amid confusion and anger over a last-minute change of venue. The hearing was due to take place on Monday 20 May in the High Court, which is where all such hearings occur. On the Thursday, supporters were told that the hearing had been moved to Woolwich Crown Court, adjacent to Belmarsh prison in Woolwich, for "security reasons". The Woolwich court staff knew nothing about the move, but the High Court staff claimed it was on the judge's personal instructions. It would be unprecedented, and, in the view of the campaign, a serious interference with the principles of open justice, to transfer the case to such an inaccessible and little-known spot, and is particularly bizarre since appellants are invariably not brought to court anyway. The attempt had all the hallmarks of another political interference with Kani Yilmaz's civil and human rights. He has now been in top-security Belmarsh prison for over 18 months, ever since his arrest on his way to a House of Commons meeting for which he had been invited to Britain. The evidence presented by the German state in support of his extradition is extremely tenuous and discloses no direct involvement in any offences. If extradited to Germany, Yilmaz is likely to be bundled back to Turkey rather than tried, according to supporters who have observed the close cooperation between the Turkish and German governments. The current policy of the German government, which has banned the PKK in Germany, is to exclude all PKK activists from refugee protection and to return them to Turkey. Around 2,000 demonstrators braved the cold English spring to march from Hyde Park on 18 May to draw attention to Yilmaz's case and to the situation of Kurdish refugees in western Europe.