3.5-Year-Old Dilgeş and His Mother Released from Prison

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Arrested in Turkey's Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır province as part of an investigation launched by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against the Rosa Women's Association, Gönül Aslan was released from prison together with her 3.5-year-old son Dilgeş today (June 9).

CLICK - 'Imprisoning a Child with the Mother is a Crime Against Humanity'

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), taken into custody in a house raid in Diyarbakır on May 22, Bağlar Municipal Council Member Gönül Aslan was arrested with 11 others on May 24. Her 3.5-year-old son, who suffers from a kidney disease, was sent to prison with her.

Following the objection of attorney Berdan Acun to their imprisonment last week, the court ruled for their release today. Aslan and her son Dilgeç reportedly left the Diyarbakır Women's Closed Prison after the verdict.

Dilgeş was previously sent to prison with his mother because he did not have a relative to take care of him outside.

What happened?

As part of an investigation conducted by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Democratic Regions Party (DBP) politicians as well as Rosa Women's Association members and Free Women Movement (TJA) activists were taken into custody in house raids in early morning hours on May 22, 2020.

While the trustee protests, statements, death fasts and protests against the isolation of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan were cited as the reason for the detention of 18 people, the mobile phones, books, CDs and laptops were depicted as criminal evidence.

The following people were detained as part of the operation: Rosa Women's Association founding member Narin Gezgör; Rosa Women's Association founding member and former HDP MP Ayla Akat Ata, Rosa Women's Association Chair Adalet Kaya, TJA activist Zelal Bilgin, DBP former Co-Chairs Mehmet Arslan and Gülcihan Şimşek, HDP Central Executive Committee member Özlem Gündüz, HDP Yenişehir District Co-Chairs Remziye Sızıcı and Kasım Kaya, HDP member Mehmet Ali Altınkaynak, DBP Party Assembly member Celal Yoldaş, Bağlar Municipal Council members Hüseyin Harman, Veysi Kuzu and Gönül Aslan, Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipal Council member Sevim Coşkun, Diyarbakır Peace Mothers Assembly member Havva Kıran, Yenişehir Municipal Council member Nevriye Çır and and Nazile Tursun.

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), referred to the Penal Judgeship of Peace on Duty to be arrested following their interrogation at the prosecutor's office, 12 people have been arrested for "membership of a terrorist organization" while six people, including former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Ayla Akat Ata, have been released on probation. (AÖ/SD)