HPG commander Soro Amed (Salih Kaplan) lost his life in the attacks launched by the state forces in Mardin’s Omeryan area in February, and his brother Mehmet Kaplan came to Mardin’s Kızıltepe district on March 2 to identify and claim his body. Mehmet Kaplan was detained there, and following a week-long detention, was arrested by the Kızıltepe Criminal Court of Peace.

Mehmet Kaplan faced a judge for the first time on May 18 and was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison for being a member of the YPG, citing his visits to Kobanê for humanitarian aid purposes in 2014.

Kaplan’s lawyer Gülşen Demir said her client was convicted for visiting Kobanê at a time when YPG wasn’t considered a “terrorist organization”, and added that the court considered his brother’s situation when sentencing Mehmet Kaplan, thus disregarding the principle of individual criminal responsbility.

STRICT SENTENCE IN FIRST HEARING FOR A PHOTOGRAPH

HPG commander Soro Amed (Salih Kaplan) who lost his life in Xerabe Bava village in Mardin’s Omeryan area in February was taken to the Kızıltepe Public Hospital Morgue. After his body was submitted to the morgue, on March 2, his brother Mehmet Kaplan came to the hospital to receive the body. Lawyer Gülşen Demir stated that Mehmet Kaplan was detained from there and was arrested by the Kızıltepe Criminal Court of Peace on March 9, following a week-long detention. Demir relayed that Kaplan was transferred to Mardin Type E Closed Prison and gave the following information on the reason for her client’s arrest: “Mehmet was detained citing just one photograph. It was a photograph taken at a time he visited Kobanê for humanitarian aid purposes. With this photograph, and citing another investigation in Diyarbakır, my client was arrested.”

Lawyer Demir stated that her client was convicted of being a member of a terrorist organization in the first hearing: Kaplan was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison by the Higher Criminal Court in Mardin on May 18.