Ankara district mayor gets sentenced to jail for beating worker

ANKARA

An Ankara district mayor from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and four municipality employees have been sentenced to 16 months in jail for forcibly locking colleague Sedat Dursun in an office before beating him up with a bat.

However, the court ruled to postpone the sentences of Kalecik Mayor Filiz Ulusoy and the other suspects involved in the beating in a hearing on Sept. 29.

“They somehow convinced my husband and brought him to the municipality office. As soon as he came in, Ulusoy began beating him up,” Tülay Dursun, the victim’s wife and a former AKP deputy at the provincial council, told Doğan News Agency on Aug. 30.

Sedat Dursun’s shirt was ripped after Ulusoy’s secretary pulled Dursun’s belt from behind, leading to Ulusoy beating him up, Tülay Dursun said, citing evidence from a security camera’s footage.

In the footage submitted to the court, Ulusoy and a man are seen picking up a bat from their car and approaching the man.

Sedat Dursun was also seen being brought forcibly to the building.

Tülay Dursun said she fell out with Ulusoy after the July 15, 2016, coup attempt and that the beating came in response to Dursun’s criticism of the mayor on social media on Aug. 30.