Stripped of MP status, HDP's Semra Güzel facing up to 7.5 years in prison

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An imprisonment of up to seven years and six months is sought in the indictment prepared for Semra Güzel, ex-MP of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) who was stripped of her MP status and who is now jailed pending trial.

İstanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office has prepared the indictment for Güzel for "forgery of official documents" requesting imprisonment of up to seven and a half years.

The office noted that there was a warrant for Güzel by the Ankara 3rd Criminal Court of Peace and that she was stripped of MP status in the voting in the parliament on December 22, 2022.

İstanbul 23rd Heavy Penal Court that the chief prosecutor's office sent the indictment to gave a decision of rejection of venue and requested that the indictment should be sent to the Ankara Heavy Penal Court.

Güzel will start standing trial in the following days if the indictment is accepted.

What happened?

Photographs of Semra Güzel were published with Volkan Bora, who was killed in an air operation by the Turkish Armed Forces in 2017, and a lynching campaign started for the MP accusing her of being in the same frame together with "a PKK member."

After the photographs were circulated on January 8, 2022, on January 10, the Ministry of Justice sent a summary of proceedings against the MP to the Presidency, which sent it to the parliament on January 12.

Discussions about lifting Güzel's immunity began on January 20. The Preparatory Commission submitted its opinion for the lift of immunity to the Joint Commission on February 8.

The Joint Commission convened on February 17. Mehmet Rüştü Tiryaki, an HDP deputy and a commission member, defended Güzel at the session and Güzel made her defense via another HDP MP Filiz Kerestecioğlu. She explained that they were friends with Bora when they were university students and that they had betrothed in the presence of the families. The photograph was dating back to the period of the resolution process when many people, including public officers, went to that region. She has also gone there and also seen Bora, and the photograph was taken back then. 

The commission accepted the decision for the lift of Güzel's immunity with the votes of the members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), and its ally İYİ (Good) Party.

The General Assembly of the Parliament on March 1 stripped legislative immunity from Güzel with 313 "yes" and 52 "no" votes.

The summary of proceedings for Güzel was submitted to the HDP closure case as additional evidence.

Güzel was detained in İstanbul on September 3, 2022, and arrested on September 4. (TY/PE)