Ousted Diyarbakır Mayor Selçuk Mızraklı Handed Prison Sentence on 'Terrorism' Charges

Photo: Mezopotamya Agency

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Selçuk Mızraklı, the dismissed mayor of the Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakır, has been sentenced to 9 years and 4 months in prison for "membership of a terrorist organization."

Mızraklı was dismissed from his post by the Ministry of Interior on August 19, 2019 on the grounds of a "terrorism-related" investigation against him. A criminal case was opened against him and he was remanded in custody on October 21.

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Mızraklı did not attend the final hearing, while his attorneys Mehmet Emin Aktar, Zülal Erdoğan, Cihan Aydın and Muhsin Bilal were present at the courtroom.

The prosecutor's office repeated its opinion as to the accusations, requesting a prison sentence of 7 years, 6 months to 15 years for "membership of a terrorist organization."

The court handed Mızraklı a prison sentence of 9 years and 4 months upon the upper limit.

Along with Mızraklı, numerous mayors and municipal council members from the Kurdish question-focused Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), have been removed from office, arrested or convicted since the local elections in March 2019. 

Attorney Erdoğan told bianet that "They moved away from the lower border, sentenced [him] on unlawful evidence. We will fight for this lawlessness to end. We will go to the appeal, we will go to the Court of Cassation, we will go to the European Court of Human Rights. The prosecutor requested a penalty based on the confessor's statements. We find all allegations made in the file as evidence against the law. The legal process will continue."

(RT/VK)