New indictment against Aysel Tuğluk after release

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A court has accepted a new indictment against Aysel Tuğluk, a former MP and a senior Kurdish politician, for "being a member of a terrorist organization."

The indictment concerns a 2014 incident where Tuğluk had allegedly "aided" a Kurdish militant who was wounded during clashes with ISIS in Syria, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported.

Turgut T., the militant in question, testified to the Adana Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in January 2021.

According to his statement, his leg was injured during clashes with ISIS. Members of the People's Defense Units (YPG), a Kurdish armed group in Syria handed him over to the Turkish Armed Forces soldiers at the border, and he was treated at the Suruç State Hospital, he said.

Turgut T. claimed that Aysel Tuğluk and Faysal Sarıyıldız, who were MPs of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) at that time, visited him during his treatment.

The prosecutor seeks a prison sentence of 7 years and 6 months to 15 years for Tuğluk for "being a member of a terrorist organization."

Among several senior HDP politicians who were put in prison in late 2016, Tuğluk was diagnosed with dementia in March 2021.

After a series of applications by her lawyers and several medical reports that her condition was not suitable to stay in prison, the Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) concluded in October that she could not stay in prison. Tuğluk was released on October 27.

Aysel Tuğluk's imprisonment

Aysel Tuğluk was arrested on December 29, 2016, when she was the deputy chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

On March 16, 2018, the Ankara 17th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Tuğluk to 10 years in prison for "managing a criminal organization." The 16th Chamber of the Court of Cassation upheld the verdict.

A court ordered her arrest in the case concerning the 2014 Kobanî protests, where 108 HDP members are facing aggravated life sentences for having allegedly organized the deadly protests by orders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

On March 15, 2021, the Seka State Hospital in Kocaeli diagnosed Tuğluk with dementia.

At the hearing of the Kobanî trial on August 1, Tuğluk was forced to defend herself. "I don't know what happened and when it happened. I don't know what I'm on trial for."

At the hearing on August 5, the court ruled for her release, but her imprisonment continued because of her previous sentence.

The Constitutional Court on August 12 rejected an application for Tuğluk's release.

Aysel Tuğluk is still kept at the Kandıra Prison in Kocaeli.

About Aysel Tuğluk

Politician and lawyer.

She was the founding member and Co-Chair of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and elected Diyarbakır MP in 2007-2009. She became the Van MP of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in 2011-2015. She served as the Vice Co-Chair of the HDP responsible for Law and Human Rights.

Aysel Tuğluk was also a member of the Society and Law Studies Foundation Executive Board, a member of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and the founder of the Patriotic Women's Association.

Born in Elazığ in 1965, she graduated from the Faculty of Law of İstanbul University and worked as a self-employed lawyer.

(TY/WM/VK)