In the third hearing of the retrial of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı, held yesterday (November 29), Diyarbakır 9th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Mızraklı to 9 years, 4 months, and 15 days in prison on charges of "membership in a terrorist organization."
The court also ruled for the continuation of Mızraklı's detention. The same sentence of 9 years, 4 months, and 15 days, given in the initial trial, had been overturned by the Court of Cassation 3rd Criminal Chamber.
In yesterday's hearing, Diyarbakır 9th Heavy Penal Court handed down a 7-year, 6-month prison sentence to Mızraklı on the charge of "membership in a terrorist organization" and increased the sentence by half. After applying a discretionary reduction on the 10-year, 6-month prison sentence, the court sentenced him to 9 years, 4 months, and 15 days in prison.
The Human Rights Association Diyarbakır branch criticized the ongoing appointment of trustees since 2016 in a statement today and reminded that Mızraklı was elected with 62% of the vote in the local elections on March 31, 2019.
The statement included the following points:
"Since 2016, following the unjust appointment of trustees to municipalities, systematic pressures and interventions against Kurds and political representatives, such as arrests, detentions, and hindering the right to engage in politics, continue.
In a country where democracy, human rights, and individual freedoms are not guaranteed, it is impossible to achieve social peace. Therefore, steps must be taken to implement policies that will end the ongoing armed conflict and violence in Turkey, and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Constitutional Court must be urgently implemented in domestic law.
The path to democratization in Turkey and minimizing human rights issues lies not in the detention, arrest, and imposition of heavy penalties on Kurds and political representatives or the appointment of trustees to municipalities but in securing the right to vote and be elected in a real sense, ending the ongoing conflict, and seeking a peaceful and dialogue-based resolution to the Kurdish issue."
Witness H.B.A. who caused Diyarbakır Mayor to be arrested revealed as police officer
His sentence overturned, imprisoned Mayor faces new trial with new witness testimonies
What happened?
Selçuk Mızraklı was elected as the Mayor of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality with 62% of the vote from 490,571 voters in the local elections held on March 31, 2019.
He was removed from office on August 19, 2019, by a decision of the Ministry of Interior, and a trustee was appointed in his place.
Having been removed from his elected position, Mızraklı staged a sit-in with the people of Diyarbakır in front of the Metropolitan Municipality for days. Two months later, on October 21, 2019, he was taken into custody, and on the following day, October 22, he was arrested on charges of "being a member of an organization" and "making propaganda for an organization" based on the allegations of a witness named H.B.A.
The case was taken to the Court of Cassation, which overturned the sentence. The trial was resumed, but this time, the statements of another confessing witness were added to the case. Meanwhile, it was revealed that H.B.A. had been working within the police organization since 2012.
Selçuk Mızraklı, a medical doctor, has marked his fourth year in detention on October 23. (PE)
