TURKEY’S biggest mass political trial in history descended into farce today as the judge hearing the case failed to turn up at the courtroom in Ankara’s Sincan prison.

Lawyers for 108 defendants from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were told that he was undergoing surgery and would not be attending court for the next two to three months.

The bombshell announcement caused confusion at the fifth hearing of the so-called Kobani trial in the Turkish capital, with the legal team initially refusing to give a defence statement without the judge present.