Former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Semra Güzel has been released from prison after spending three years behind bars.
The Ankara 22nd Heavy Penal Court announced the decision today during the final hearing of her trial for "being a member of a terrorist organization."
INTERVIEW
Imprisoned Kurdish politician Semra Güzel: ‘My right to love is being judged in this trial’
The hearing was attended by members and deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, as well as rights advocates and lawyers.
Güzel, who had been held at the Kandıra Women’s Closed Prison in Kocaeli since Sep 4, 2022, joined the hearing via videoconference, according to Mezopotamya Agency (MA).
The indictments prepared against her had previously been submitted by the Court of Cassation’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office as additional evidence in the ongoing case seeking to close the HDP.
After confirming her identity and reviewing the new documents added to the file, the court sentenced Güzel to six years and three months in prison for “membership in a terrorist organization” and two years and six months for “forgery of an official document.” Taking into account her lengthy pretrial detention, the court ordered her release under judicial control.
Güzel was arrested after being publicly targeted on social media by then–Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu.
About Semra Güzel
Güzel is a physician and politician. A graduate of Harran University Faculty of Medicine, she was appointed to Mardin Children’s and Women’s Diseases Hospital in May 2009 and began working as a family doctor in Nusaybin in Nov 2010. In 2012, she continued her training in the Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation at Diyarbakır Gazi Yaşargil Hospital.
She served on the board of the Diyarbakır Chamber of Physicians and later as its co-chair.
In the 2018 general elections, Güzel was elected an MP from the HDP representaing Diyarbakır. During her term, she focused on issues related to public health and restrictions on the Kurdish language. She questioned the Health Ministry’s consultation hotline for not providing services in Kurdish and raised concerns that health cards distributed in a hospital in Elazığ were printed in 17 languages but excluded Kurdish, despite its wide use in the region.
In Jan 2022, pro-government media published photos of Güzel with Volkan Bora, a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) member who was killed in a Turkish Armed Forces airstrike in 2017. Following the release of the photos, two summary proceedings were prepared against her.
On Jan 20, 2022, the parliament began deliberations on lifting her legislative immunity. The preparatory committee formed by members of the Constitutional and Justice Committees voted in favor of lifting her immunity, with support from both the ruling and oppositio blocs.
The decision was approved by the parliament's General Assembly on Mar 1, 2022, paving the way for judicial proceedings against her. The indictments were also submitted as additional evidence in the HDP closure case by the Court of Cassation’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Güzel was detained in İstanbul on Sep 3, 2022, and formally arrested the following day.
(TY/VK)
.jpg)
