Regional Court Overturns HDP MP’s Prison Sentence

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The six-year prison sentence given to Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Muş MP Burcu Çelik Özkan by Muş 1st Heavy Penal Court has been overturned and the case sent to retrialr by Erzurum Regional General Court 2nd Penal Chamber.

According to the new ruling, the classification of the offense will be evaluated, and the case will be retried at Erzurum Regional General Court 2nd Penal Chamber on February 27, 2018 at 09:30 am.

What happened?

Burcu Çelik Özkan was detained and arrested in Muş on April 19, 2017 and sent to Kocaeli Kandıra F-Type High Security Penal Institution Number 1.

Çelik-Özkan was charged with "illegal organization membership", "illegal organization propaganda", and "provoking the public to hatred and hostility" at Muş 1st Heavy Penal Court and acquitted on all criminal charges filed against her in the hearing on October 6, 2017.

The court had consolidated the cases from which Çelik Özkan had been acquitted and given her a sentence of six years in prison for the charge of "committing crimes on behalf of a criminal organization without being a member". Attorneys had objected to the decision.

On Burcu Çelik Özkan

She is a member of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission.

She was born in Muş on January 1, 1986. She graduated from Marmara University Law School.

She was part of the Libertarian Jurists Platform (ÖHP). She served as HDP Beylikdüzü district head before being elected into parliament.

9 HDP MPs under arrest

Selahattin Demirtaş – HDP Co-Chair

Figen Yüksekdağ – former HDP Co-Chair (removed from MP duties and party membership on February 21, 2017)

İdris Baluken - Diyarbakır MP

Selma Irmak - Hakkari MP

Gülser Yıldırım - Mardin MP

Ferhat Encü - Şırnak MP

Abdullah Zeydan - Hakkari MP

Çağlar Demirel - Diyarbakır MP

Burcu Çelik Özkan - Muş MP

CLICK TO READ - The Status of HDP MPs to Date

(TP/PU)