The arrest warrant against HDP politician Ülkü Karaaslan has been revoked in the first main hearing in the trial before the 2nd Heavy Penal Court in Muş. Karaaslan had been elected co-mayor of the Varto district in March 2019. In December, she was arrested in her apartment on charges of membership of a terrorist organization, and imprisoned two days later. A trustee was appointed to the mayor's post by the Turkish Ministry of the Interior.

At yesterday's hearing in Muş, the HDP politician rejected the charges brought against her. The court ordered the arrest warrant to be lifted. The trial will continue.

Of the 65 Kurdish cities and municipalities in which the HDP emerged as the winner of the local elections of 31 March 2019, 47 are now governed by state-appointed trustees. Arrest warrants have been issued for almost half of the elected mayors, and some twenty of them are still in prison.