The final hearing in the trial against deposed mayor Selçuk Mızraklı was held at the 9th Heavy Penal Court in Amed (Diyarbakir) on Monday.

Mızraklı, who had worked as a doctor until his election as co-mayor of the Kurdish metropolis Amed in March 2019, was deposed by the Turkish Ministry of the Interior on August 19 and imprisoned in October. He is accused of being a member of a terrorist organization. The charges are based on the statements of confessor Hicran Berna Ayverdi, who benefited from the Turkish law of repentance and has since been released from prison.

Mızraklı, jailed for 140 days in the Kayseri province in Central Anatolia, 700 kilometers away from Amed, did not attend the hearing after he had said inthe previous hearing on February 10th that he would no longer participate in the hearings via SEGBIS as this practice was unlawful. He was represented before the court by his lawyers Zülal Erdoğan, Mehmet Emin Aktar, Cihan Aydın and Muhsin Bilal.

The hearing was observed by numerous politicians and representatives from Germany and abroad. Among those attending the trial were HDP MPs Musa Farisoğulları, Semra Güzel and Necdet İpekyüz, President of Diyarbakır Chamber of Medicine Şerif Demir and a foreign delegation including doctor Gisela Penteker from Lower Saxony Committee for Refugees, Lukas Maria Ossewald from the German Left Party Ortenau Local Council, Bernhad Von Grünberg, an MP for the Social Democratic Party of Germany and Deputy Chairman of the UN Refugee Aid.

While the prosecution reiterated their opinion from the former hearing, lawyers called for the withdrawal of the opinion and denounced the illegalization of the DTK (Democratic Society Congress), defending that their client’s political activities within the DTK did not constitute a crime.

The lawyers also denounced the legal opinion of the prosecution as it is based on the statements of one single witness, underlining that “in line with the Supreme Court ruling dated 2019, activities of a suspect cannot be considered as organizational activities unless the statements of secret witnesses are substantiated with other evidences”.

Lawyers also asked the background how confessor Hicran Berna Ayverdi happened to testify against Mızraklı as her statements proved to be trumped up and asked what she was promised in return, noting that she was acquitted last week.

The lawyers said; “This is a political trial against which lawyers have no chance to struggle. We have witnessed the same in the trial of Osman Kavala. The court asks us to submit a defence in an attempt to legitimate its ruling which is indeed illegitimate and unlawful. You might keep Mızraklı in prison for a few years but you will be trying a whole society.  

Our client joined the protest against the dismissal of elected mayors on the Lise Avenue across the city hall until the day he was arrested. His participation in these protests has led to his imprisonment.

With your ruling against Selçuk Mızraklı, you will prove that the Kurds have no right to elect their representatives. You cannot justify your ruling with the allegation of a “suspicion of flight”.”

The Court then ruled continuation of arrest and sentenced Mızraklı to 9 years, 4 months and 15 days in prison for “membership of a terrorist organization”.

Following the hearing, HDP deputies were encircled by the police and were not allowed to make a statement to the press outside the court building. After rising tensions at the scene, the deputies left the court without being able to speak out against the verdict.