Prosecutors demand 230 years prison sentences for ousted Diyarbakır Co-Mayor Kışanak

ANKARA

The Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has demanded 230 years in prison for ousted Diyarbakır Co-Mayor Gültan Kışanak on claims of “being the founder and executive of an armed terrorist group” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization,” Doğan News agency reported on Nov. 29. 

The 21-page indictment accused Kışanak of “conducting terrorist propaganda” on 41 separate occasions,” while also accusing her of “attending illegal meeting and marches despite orders to disperse.”

A court in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır had arrested Kışanak and Fırat Anlı, the co-mayors of Diyarbakır, late on Oct. 30 following their detention.

Anlı was charged with “trying to separate land under the state’s sovereignty.” 

The government appointed a trustee to Diyarbakır Municipality on Nov. 1 after the democratically elected mayors were arrested.

Cumali Atilla, who was working as a district governor of the Etimesgut district in Ankara, was appointed as the trustee.

Kışanak was a former member of parliament from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) before her election as mayor in Diyarbakır. The duo were taken into custody as part of an investigation into their alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Diyarbakır Prosecutor’s Office said in a written statement.