Kurdish woman Emine Şenyaşar is to stand trial again in Turkey. The 71-year-old is accused of repeatedly insulting an AKP MP with derogatory remarks. The accusation is related to a vigil by means of which the elderly woman hopes for justice for her husband and two sons. The three men were victims of lynchings four years ago in the district of Suruç in Urfa province. The legal dispute with the perpetrators has dragged on ever since. In contrast, the judiciary is working at full speed on the harassment of Emine Şenyaşar.

Emine Şenyaşar is the widow of Hacı Esvet Şenyaşar and mother of their sons Celal and Adil. The three men were brutally killed by armed bodyguards and relatives of then MP candidate Ibrahim Halil Yıldız on the sidelines of a campaign tour just days before the parliamentary and presidential elections in June 2018. Yıldız led the lynch mob at the time. He was also the one who reported Emine Şenyaşar again for allegedly insulting a public official, thus setting the new trial in motion. In return, Yıldız had a lament by the elderly woman about the loss of her husband and sons reclassified as an insult. In the first case brought by the AKP MP last February, Şenyaşar was sentenced to a fine for "defamation".

Emine Şenyaşar is not letting it get her down. She continued her "justice vigil", which she started 553 days ago in front of the Palace of Justice in the province of Urfa, on Monday. She was again joined by her son Ferit, who survived the massacre of his family. He criticised the fact that his mother was once again being dragged before the courts, while Ibrahim Halil Yıldız and most of the perpetrators and those involved were still enjoying "a carefree life in freedom" and the trial for the murders was being delayed. Fifteen investigations have already been initiated against Emine Şenyaşar since her vigil began, and charges have been brought in five cases. "Any person who claims to be human must not remain silent in the face of this great injustice to my mother," stated Ferit Şenyaşar. Instead of trying to heal the victims' wounds and punish the murders, he said, the court is a prime example of who is entitled to justice and who is not, according to the Turkish judiciary. "The victims, at least, have not received it so far. That is why we call on the public to watch the trial and witness the injustices against our family," Şenyaşar said.

The trial against Emine Şenyaşar will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, at the Criminal Chamber of the Urfa District Court.