Appeals court upholds prison sentence of ousted Diyarbakır mayor
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Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice 9th Penal Chamber has upheld former Diyarbakır Mayor Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı's prison sentence for "membership of an illegal organization."
Mızraklı, a member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was dismissed from his post on August 19, 2019, by the Ministry of Interior on the ground of an ongoing "terrorism-related" investigation against him.
He was sentenced to 9 years, 4 months and 15 days in prison on March 9. Mızraklı's attorneys appealed the decision.
Rejecting the attorneys' request for a hearing, the court of appeals upheld the sentence as per Article 280/1.a of the Law on Criminal Procedure, Mesopotamia Agency reported.
It stated that the evidence was valid and there was no inaccuracy in the heavy penal court's decision. The court of appeals also rejected the request for Mızraklı's release from prison on the grounds of "the quality of the crime, the current evidence situation and the strong criminal suspicion."
Mızraklı's attorneys will now appeal the decision at the Court of Cassation.
Since the local elections in March 2019, the Ministry of Interior has taken over nearly 50 of the 65 municipalities won by the HDP in the mostly Kurdish-populated eastern and southeastern regions.
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What happened? Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı was dismissed as Diyarbakır Mayor by the Ministry of Interior on August 19, 2019, on the grounds of an ongoing "terrorism-related" against him. He was taken into custody on October 21, as part of an investigation conducted by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. He was remanded in custody one day later on charges of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" and "membership of a terrorist organization." The indictment issued by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office was accepted by the Diyarbakır 11th Heavy Penal Court on November 11. Mızraklı has been facing 7.5 to 15 years in prison on the offenses charged. His indictment refers to the accounts of witness H.B.A., based on which Mızraklı was arrested. H.B.A. alleged that a "Hogır" code-named Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) member was taken to a private hospital in Diyarbakır after being wounded, he was operated by Mızraklı and discharged from the hospital without being turned over to security forces. However, according to Social Security Institution (SGK) records, H.B.A. was not working at the hospital at the time when Mızraklı allegedly did the surgery. Arrested for 1 month in 2018 as part of an investigation into the DTK, Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı faced one lawsuit and eight investigations on charges of "establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization, being a member of an armed terrorist organization, propagandizing for a terrorist organization and praising the crime and the criminal." Receiving 490,507 votes (62.93 percent) in the last local elections on March 31, 2019, Mızraklı was elected the Metropolitan Co-Mayor of Diyarbakır. About Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı 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. |
(EMK/VK)