The trial against the deposed mayor Selçuk Mızraklı has begun at the 9th Heavy Penal Court in Amed (Diyarbakir). Mızraklı, who worked as a doctor until his election as co-mayor of the Kurdish metropolis of Amed in March, 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, for which he faces up to 15 years imprisonment. The charges are based on the questionable statements of confessor Hicran Berna Ayverdi, who wants to profit from the Turkish law of repentance and hopes for a reduction of sentence.

The trial took place under active public interest. Many politicians from the HDP, CHP, Saadet, KKP and Emek parties observed the proceedings in the courtroom. The defendant himself was not present. He is in prison in Kayseri province in Central Anatolia, 700 kilometers away from Amed, and was only able to take part in his own trial via a video conferencing system SEGBIS.

Mızraklı recalled Turkish President Erdoğan’s threats to appoint trustees to HDP municipalities yet in the run-up to the local elections on 31 March, stressing that they still participated in the elections with great commitment to democracy and by defending peace and democracy in response.

“We came to heal Diyarbakır’s wounds. However, HDP people are arrested on daily basis. The term “terror” is used against the society in an attempt to hypnotise it. The biggest “terror” is those rulers who generate crisis, poverty and war. The opposition, for which we acted as life line support in the local elections, remains silent on this. The politics and the society must get out of this darkness and this labyrinth. This can only be achieved through the solution of the Kurdish question. Peace lets us, humans, grow, while war reduces us and makes us lose.”

While the trial was adjourned to 10 February 2020, the arrest warrant against Mizraklı was not revoked.