Former Hakkari co-mayors released after completing 9-year sentence

Hakkari's former Co-Mayors, Dilek Hatipoğlu and Nurullah Çiftçi, who were arrested in 2015 and subsequently convicted under questionable legal proceedings, have been released after serving their full 9-year prison terms.

The two Kurdish politicians were detained on August 14, 2015, on charges related to their announcement of "self-governance." They were formally arrested by a court on August 23, 2015.

The Hakkari 2nd Heavy Penal Court, on March 25, 2016, accepted the allegation that Hatipoğlu and Çiftçi had committed the offense of "undermining the unity and integrity of the state," as prohibited by Article 302 of the Turkish Penal Code. The court sentenced both individuals to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment.

Following the Court of Appeals' 16th Criminal Chamber overturning the initial verdict for the co-mayors and eight others tried together, a retrial took place. On January 26, 2018, the court, this time, sentenced the mayors to 11 years and 3 months of imprisonment each.

Constitutional Court ruling

In response to an application made to the Constitutional Court  by the co-mayors' lawyers, citing violations of the right to a speedy trial, the principle of confronting witnesses, and the right to personal freedom and security, the Constitutional Court considered the non-attendance of the co-mayors at the trial as a "violation of the right to a fair trial." The Constitutional Court, in its detailed decision, highlighted the reasons for a retrial.

Following the Constitutional Court's decision, the case was sent back to the Hakkari 2nd Heavy Penal Court. In the retrial, former Co-Mayors Dilek Hatipoğlu and Nurullah Çiftçi were once again sentenced to 11 years and 3 months of imprisonment. The sentence was confirmed by the Court of Appeals.

Having spent nearly a decade in various prisons, Hatipoğlu was released from the Ankara Sincan Women's Closed Prison, while Çiftçi regained freedom from the Diyarbakır High-Security Prison.

Despite the repeated annulments and retrials of the sentences of Hakkari Co-Mayors, the "self-governance" statements, cited as the reason for Hatipoğlu and Çiftçi's 9-year imprisonment, have been the subject of numerous appeals before the Court of Appeals. Some chambers within the relevant Court of Appeals have also ruled that applying Article 302 provisions to the case, based on nearly identical statements, is legally untenable and invalid.