The trial against the revolutionaries and communists, who had been arrested and imprisoned in Istanbul within a wave of raids on socialist organisations on September 21, 2006 in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan, continued on August 7 in front of the 14th Heavy Penalty Court in Istanbul.
The families of the prisoners and activists of the socialist organisations gathering in front of the court building to show their support for the prisoners shouted the slogans "Hope is standing tall" and "Cancel the anti-terror law, we demand freedom" and waited for the result of the trial.
Members and leaders of the trade union Tekstil-Sen who came to defend their imprisoned general president opened a banner saying "Release our general president Ayse Yumli Yeter. Cancel the anti-terror law/Tekstil-Sen".
In a statement made, the demand for the cancellation of the anti-terror law was repeated yet another time and the revelation of the judge Ali Kayaoglu's relation with drug gangs reminded. The trial ended with the decision of four releases: Tekstil-Sen general president Ayse Yumli Yeter, ESP representative Figen Yuksekdag, Dayanisma newspaper editor Emin Orhan and ESP activist Birsen Kaya. The court decided that the prisoners Yusuf Demir, Gunes Senyuz, Erdal Demirhan, Yunus Aydemir and Ali Haydar Keles will continue to be imprisoned.
The first hearing of this trial took place in April 13. 10 prisoners were released in the former hearing. At that time, a wide range of people from Turkey and Northern Kurdistan as well as international delegates were present to show solidarity with the prisoners.