Former HDP deputy Gülser Yıldırım released four months after completing sentence

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Gülser Yıldırım, a former Mardin MP of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has been released from prison, but with four months of delay.

Yıldırım was released from the Kocaeli F Type Prison in Kandıra today (October 18) only after four petitions submitted to the Court of Cassation, the country's top appeals court, by her lawyer Azad Yıldırım.

Two MPs with the HDP last month brought the delay in Yıldırım's release to the parliamentary agenda, submitting parliamentary questions to Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ. Whether the prevention of Yıldırım's release despite completing her service was a "new method of punishment," they had asked the minister.

Arrested on November 4, 2016, together with other HDP deputies, Yıldırım was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months prison by the Mardin 3rd Heavy Penal Court for "being a member of an illegal organization."

She was later given a home detention sentence in the Kobani case.
Yıldırım was not released from prison after completing her service although there was no arrest warrant for her for any other law case.
Lawyer Yıldırım had announced that they had given four petitions to the Court of Cassation responsible for the case but could not get any response to their petitions.

About Gülser Yıldırım

Politician. Gülser Yıldırım was born on January 1, 1963 in Nusaybin district of Mardin. She is a high school graduate, married and mother of four children and speaks Kurdish.

Yıldırım was an MP from Mardin in the 24th legislative session.

She was arrested on February 26, 2010, but released on January 3, 2014, after her application to the Constitutional Court.

Later she was one of the 12 MPs whose houses were raided and who were arrested on December 4, 2016. Here she was accused of "making propaganda for a terrorist organization, provoking people in order to create hatred and hostility, praising crime and criminals, and entering military areas." (AS/PE/VK)