After almost three months in custody, the trial of Kurdish politician Hasan Safa from the HDP ended on Tuesday in a court in the province of Iğdır. In a scandalous verdict, the 1st Heavy Penal Court of Iğdır sentenced the former co-mayor of the municipality of Halfeli to seven years and six months imprisonment.

Safa, who was removed from office at the instigation of the Ministry of the Interior on 21 March this year and arrested the same day, is accused of being a member of an "armed organisation". The background to this is the HDP politician's alleged participation in the funeral of a guerrilla fighter in April 2015 in the Diyadin district in Ağrı. In May 2017, Safa had therefore been arrested for alleged PKK membership as part of an operation by the provincial command of the gendarmerie (military police) in Iğdır. The legal counsel of the politician, who is currently imprisoned in the high security prison of Patnos, has announced an appeal against the verdict.

Only twelve HDP mayors still in office

Of the 65 Kurdish municipalities that were won by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in the election on 31 March 2019, 45 are now administered by state-appointed trustees. Arrest warrants have been issued for more than two dozen elected mayors, 21 of whom are still in prison. In six municipalities the elected mayors were not even able to take office because the election committee refused to recognise them. In their place, the defeated AKP candidates were hoisted into office, who repeatedly make a name for themselves through robbery and corruption.

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