Kurdish Co-Mayors of two districts sentenced to over 6 years imprisonment

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Kızıltepe Co-Mayor Nilüfer Elik Yılmaz and Savur Co-Mayor Gülistan Öncü were sentenced to imprisonment in the case where they stood trial for "being a member of a terrorist organization" that was started after they were replaced by appointed trustees.

The court sentenced the co-mayors of the two districts of Mardin in eastern Türkiye,  to 6 years and 3 months of imprisonment each and also extended the ban on leaving the country, but acquitted Elik Yılmaz in another case filed in 2011.

In yesterday's hearing, the lawyers of the co-mayors responded to the prosecutor's request for prison sentences telling the court that the charges were based on statements of anonymous witnesses only. The lawyers also argued that they had already refuted the evidence and that the case was a political case.

"Still a Mayor administratively"

Elik-Yılmaz's lawyer Azad Yıldırım asked why the Prosecutor's office insisted on calling Elik Yılmaz "ex-mayor" while even the Ministry of Interior that appointed a trustee to replace her was stating that "administratively, she was still on duty."

Yıldırım argued that the "notes and photocopies" included in the file as evidence could not even be sent to the forensic medicine institution unless Elik Yılmaz accepts that they belong to her.

Again anonymous witnesses

The lawyer underlined that there was nothing in the case file "except statements of anonymous witnesses" and claimed that the "anonymous witness institution had turned into the decision maker." "We should not have these anonymous witnesses anymore," Yıldırım said and reminded the court that the Court of Cassation has ruled that "anonymous witness" statements were not alone sufficient to render judgment.

Lawyer Erdal Kuzu argued that these cases were "resulting from the fact that there was no solution to the Kurdish problem," and that they were cases that "will discontinue when there is a different conjuncture."

"I will be very clear. These are political cases," said Kuzu.

Political ban also sought

The co-mayors standing trial without arrest did not attend yesterday's hearing at the Mardin 2nd Heavy Penal Court.

The two were arrested after trustees were appointed to replace them by the Ministry of Interior, Öncü on November 27, and Elik Yılmaz on December 16, 2019.

They were first in prison standing trial but later released while their case was ongoing.

Both are also among over 500 members of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) for whom a political ban is sought in the HDP closure case to be heard at the Constitutional Court of Türkiye.

An indictment, accepted by the Court in June 2021, is seeking the closure of the HDP for its alleged connections to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). (AEK/PE)