Tuma Çelik: I have been acquitted

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Stripped of his legislative immunity, discharged from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and put on trial for "sexually assaulting" a woman, Independent MP Tuma Çelik has sent a statement to the press and announced that he has been "acquitted" of the offense charged.

Stating that "the judicial proceedings that started following the aspersions cast on him ended today" (April 14), Tuma Çelik has indicated that "in the lawsuit held at the Ankara 8th Heavy Penal Court, the court board has given a ruling of acquittal" for him.

"Following the aspersion cast on me, I have been subjected to a grave extrajudicial execution, including the process where I was stripped of my legislative immunity. Since the beginning, I have been saying that all allegations are grounds," Çelik has said, briefly adding:

"As a result of the process of extrajudicial execution that was jointly started by politicians and some newspapers, our rightfulness has been revealed. I owe many thanks to everyone who has supported me in this process, especially my voters who have sent me to Parliament as a deputy."

What happened?

Facing charges for sexually assaulting a woman, Mardin MP Tuma Çelik resigned from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on July 18, 2020.

In his resignation letter, he said, "My work within the body of the Parliament and among the people must have disturbed some circles to such an extent that slanders, accusations and threats have been developed against my personality in a different way and in different dimensions. In addition to this, a woman started to blackmail me by casting aspersions.

"That this summary of proceedings has been put on the agenda with political motives while hundreds of others are pending does not change the fact that what is told is a lie. Knowing that the incident will be turned into a political plot after these developments, I have felt the need to inform the public. For this reason, I have decided to resign from the HDP so that my party will not be harmed and this allegation will not be abused.

"This needs to be known that if the investigation launched against me based on this allegation that has nothing to do with the reality ends in a fair trial, I believe that I will definitely be acquitted."

Tuma Çelik was discharged from the HDP in the party's Central Disciplinary Board Meeting on July 20. (EMK/SD)