Appeals court overturns Selahattin Demirtaş’s prison sentence of 2 years, 6 months

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The Ankara Regional Court of Justice, the court of appeals, has overturned the prison sentence of imprisoned former Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş, who was sentenced to 2 years, 6 months in prison by the local court on the grounds that he allegedly marked the then Chief Public Prosecutor of Ankara Yüksel Kocaman as a target.

Behind bars since November 2016, Demirtaş was reportedly put on trial over his remarks in his statement at the hearing of a trial held by the Ankara 19th High Criminal Court on January 7, 2020. Demirtaş was charged with "threatening Kocaman by making use of the fearsome force of presumed criminal organizations" and "marking a counterterrorism official as a target."

Facing up to 8 years in prison on the offense charged, Selahattin Demirtaş had his final hearing in this trial at the Ankara 19th High Criminal Court on May 28, 2021 and was sentenced to 2 years, 6 months in prison on charge of "marking a counterrorism official as a target".

The lawyers of Selahattin Demirtaş and the public prosecutor appealed against this ruling and took it to the Ankara Regional Court of Justice.

Examining the file, the 21st Penal Chamber of the appeals court referred to the ruling of the Court of Cassation's General Assembly of Penal Chambers.

The court has concluded that the act of Selahattin Demirtaş as a whole "constituted the crime of marking a counterterrorism official as a target" and argued that he should have been convicted of "threatening by making use of the fearsome force of presumed criminal organizations".

The court of appeals has ruled that the case file of Demirtaş shall be sent back to the high criminal court, concluding that "dividing a part of the act and penalizing it partially is against the law as it is." (EMK/SD)