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Rally in support of Şebnem Korur Fincancı on December 23: Protester with a placard reading »We want freedom for Şebnem«
Photo: OZAN KOSE / AFP
The head of the Turkish Medical Association and well-known human rights activist Şebnem Korur Fincancı must remain in prison.
This was decided by an Istanbul court on Friday at the start of the trial, as reported by the state broadcaster TRT.
The public prosecutor's office demanded up to seven and a half years in prison for "terrorist propaganda".
Fincancı has been accused of propaganda for the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) after addressing the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Turkish military.
She was arrested at the end of October.
The hearing will continue on December 29th.
The background to the process are unverified videos that circulated on the Internet in October.
They are intended to show how Turkish forces use chemical weapons against PKK positions during a military operation in northern Iraq.
In addition to Fincancı, parts of the opposition had also called for independent investigations.
The Turkish government has denied the allegations.
The Vice President of the German Bundestag, Aydan Özoğuz (SPD), criticized the court's decision.
"Holding that instead of dealing with her allegations of torture, she should be locked away for her torture allegations," she wrote in a Twitter post.
Fincancı is "a very clear and critical thinking woman".
With this decision, Turkey is “increasingly” isolating itself.
The human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also criticized the allegations against Fincancı as unjustified and called for her immediate release.
mgo/dpa