Ousted Diyarbakır Mayor Selçuk Mızraklı Handed Prison Sentence on 'Terrorism' Charges
Photo: Mezopotamya Agency
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Selçuk Mızraklı, the dismissed mayor of the Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakır, has been sentenced to 9 years and 4 months in prison for "membership of a terrorist organization."
Mızraklı was dismissed from his post by the Ministry of Interior on August 19, 2019 on the grounds of a "terrorism-related" investigation against him. A criminal case was opened against him and he was remanded in custody on October 21.
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Mızraklı did not attend the final hearing, while his attorneys Mehmet Emin Aktar, Zülal Erdoğan, Cihan Aydın and Muhsin Bilal were present at the courtroom.
The prosecutor's office repeated its opinion as to the accusations, requesting a prison sentence of 7 years, 6 months to 15 years for "membership of a terrorist organization."
The court handed Mızraklı a prison sentence of 9 years and 4 months upon the upper limit.
Along with Mızraklı, numerous mayors and municipal council members from the Kurdish question-focused Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), have been removed from office, arrested or convicted since the local elections in March 2019.
Attorney Erdoğan told bianet that "They moved away from the lower border, sentenced [him] on unlawful evidence. We will fight for this lawlessness to end. We will go to the appeal, we will go to the Court of Cassation, we will go to the European Court of Human Rights. The prosecutor requested a penalty based on the confessor's statements. We find all allegations made in the file as evidence against the law. The legal process will continue."
About Adnan Selçuk MızraklıDiyarbakır Bar Association Chair Cihan Aydın said, "The verdict given is never a court verdict, we can't think like there is a judicial decision. We cannot talk about legally-obtained evidence. We have repeatedly submitted to the court that the evidence has not been obtained legally. These are evidence produced by the police, attempts to justify the extortion of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality." Physician and politician. He was elected mayor of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the local elections on March 31, 2019. He was dismissed from his post on August 19, 2019 and was replaced with a trustee. Mızraklı served as an MP from the HDP between June 2018 and March 2019. He held various positions at the Diyarbakır Chamber of Medicine, including the chairpersonship. He is the founding chairperson and a board member of the Mesopotamia Foundation. He was born in 1963 in Siverek, Urfa in southeastern Turkey. He is currently held at Bünyan Prison in Kayseri province. |
(RT/VK)