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Replaced by a trustee and subsequently arrested after he was elected as the Mayor of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality in 2019, Selçuk Mızraklı is facing retrial following the overturning of his more than 9 years prison sentence by the Court of Cassation. In yesterday's (September 11) hearing of the retrial, the local court initiated a new case based on the statements of an open witness and ruled for Mızraklı to remain in custody.
Yesterday Mızraklı participated in the hearing through the Audio and Visual Communication System (SEGBİS) from Edirne F-Type Closed Prison, where he is currently detained along with former People's Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş.
During this hearing, a new case was opened against Mızraklı based on the testimony of the open witness Ümit Akbıyık. It was reported that a two-page indictment was accepted by the court, and the cases were merged.
The retrial at the local court in Diyarbakır started after the Court of Cassation overturned in December 2022 the 9-year, 4-month and 15 days prison sentence issued by Diyarbakır 9th Heavy Penal Court.
Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported that there has been a change in the presiding judge due to the appointment of Diyarbakır 9th Heavy Penal Court President Enver Akman to Manisa Heavy Penal Court Presidency.
Mızraklı addresses the court
Mızraklı greeted and thanked those present at the hearing and conveyed the greetings of Selahattin Demirtaş, the former Co-Chair of the HDP, MA reported.
"I am not under arrest; I am a hostage. I am an elected mayor. I am here with false allegations and an operation organized. The Minister of Interior made a statement when no crime was proven. We explained that this was a usurpation of people's will. A metropolitan mayor has been arrested based on the words of a confessing witness. This is a violation of the Constitution," Mızraklı told the court.
After the lawyers presented their defense, the court decided to hear the open witness Ümit Akbıyık in the next hearing and ruled for Mızraklı to remain in custody. The court postponed the next hearing to November 29.
About Selçuk Mızraklı's imprisonment Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı was dismissed as Diyarbakır Mayor by the Ministry of Interior on August 19, 2019, on the grounds of an ongoing "terrorism-related" against him. He was taken into custody on October 21, as part of an investigation conducted by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. He was remanded in custody one day later on charges of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" and "membership of a terrorist organization." The indictment issued by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office was accepted by the Diyarbakır 11th Heavy Penal Court on November 11. Mızraklı has been facing 7.5 to 15 years in prison for the offenses charged. His indictment refers to the accounts of witness H.B.A., based on which Mızraklı was arrested. H.B.A. alleged that a "Hogır" code-named Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) member was taken to a private hospital in Diyarbakır after being wounded, he was operated on by Mızraklı and discharged from the hospital without being turned over to security forces. However, according to Social Security Institution (SGK) records, H.B.A. was not working at the hospital at the time when Mızraklı allegedly did the surgery. In the ensuing trial, the Diyarbakır 9th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Mızraklı to 9 years, 4 months, and 15 days in prison on March 9, 2020. Arrested for 1 month in 2018 as part of an investigation into the DTK, Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı faced one lawsuit and eight investigations on charges of "establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization, being a member of an armed terrorist organization, propagandizing for a terrorist organization and praising the crime and the criminal." Receiving 490,507 votes (62.93 percent) in the last local elections on March 31, 2019, Mızraklı was elected the Metropolitan Co-Mayor of Diyarbakır. About Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı Physician and politician. He was elected mayor of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the local elections on March 31, 2019. He was dismissed from his post on August 19, 2019, and was replaced with a trustee. Mızraklı served as an MP from the HDP between June 2018 and March 2019. He held various positions at the Diyarbakır Chamber of Medicine, including the chairpersonship. He is the founding chairperson and a board member of the Mesopotamia Foundation. He was born in 1963 in Siverek, Urfa in southeastern Turkey. He is currently held at Bünyan Prison. |
(RT/PE)
