5.5-year prison sentence for Selahattin Demirtaş

A verdict has been reached in the case where the former Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, who is currently imprisoned at the Edirne F-Type Closed Prison, was being tried on charges of "insulting the president" and "publicly degrading government and state institutions."

Demirtaş attended the hearing held today at the Mersin 14th Criminal Court of First Instance via the Audio and Video Information System (SEGBİS).

Demirtaş was sentenced to a total of 5.5 years in prison: 1 year and 6 months under TCK 301, 1 year and 3 months under TCK 62, 1 year and 6 months under TCK 216, and 1 year and 3 months under TCK 62.

Selahattin Demirtaş's defense statement at the hearing is as follows:

''I greet my friends in Mersin and Diyarbakır. The prosecutor has announced his final opinion, and we will now make our final defense. I believe we have reached the decision stage. Honestly, since the opinion is a copy-paste job, the narrative and spelling errors are the same. Thousands of pages of defense and evidence have been ignored. It doesn't have to be democratic, but if we were to have this opinion read in any country, no one would understand anything. There is not a single line of legal assessment.

Who is Demirtaş, where did he make the speech, what is the context, what is the social and political environment? There is nothing regarding these. I served as a member of parliament for 12 years, I served as co-chair; why Demirtaş made these speeches is not clear in the opinion. It's copy-paste, 'some random person,' Selahattin Demirtaş has committed a crime.

The prosecutor is confident. On one side there is 'terrorist Demirtaş,' and on the other side there is the state. On one side there is the state, and on the other side there is the Kurdish politician Demirtaş. That is why the prosecutor says, 'I am on the side of the state.' For this reason, if a conviction comes out of here, a ruling will be issued at the ECHR under Article 18 and Article 14. A ruling regarding discrimination will be issued."

''ACCORDING TO THE PROSECUTOR, EVEN IF THE STATE HAS COMMITTED A CRIME...”

Even if the state has committed torture, even if it has committed a massacre, according to the prosecutor, Demirtaş must pay the price. Even if the state had committed these crimes, according to the prosecutor, the Kurdish politician Demirtaş must be punished. If I were a fascist politician instead of a Kurdish politician, if I had someone killed in the middle of Ankara, if I had incited murder, if I had threatened, no investigation would have been opened against me.

'17 YEARS FOR 301 DEATHS IN SOMA, 55 YEARS FOR DEMİRTAŞ'

As a Kurdish politician, I am being tried because of my right to criticism. I have not been sentenced for terrorism or violence. I have received 55 years of prison sentences due to my speeches. I don't know what sentence you will give today. Those who caused the death of 301 people in Soma received a 17-year sentence. The person who shot Hrant Dink served 16 years and was released. Demirtaş received a 55-year sentence due to his speeches.

'INSULTING ME IS A PREMIUM IN THE STATE'

Nedim Şener and Hilal Kaplan openly insult me. They say the judiciary protects us. They are relying on this opinion of the prosecutor's office. Saying 'You will take down one HDP deputy for every martyr' was considered freedom of expression. Hilal Kaplan called me a 'murderer' and a 'terrorist' and was rewarded; she became a TRT executive. The judges who sentenced me were promoted. Insulting me is a premium in the state. Eating off Demirtaş's plate has turned into a trend. Insult, prove yourself to the state. We have been dealing with this treatment for years. Also, I mentioned torture. Did I say these out of the blue, or did I describe certain events?"

'THEY PROTECT THE STATE AND WE HARM IT, IS THAT SO?'

"If I were the person called Sedat Peker, if I had said this: 'We will cut the jugular vein of the world and make blood flow in streams'," Demirtaş continued his defense:

What is our difference from Peker or Çakıcı? They are racist fascists, I am a Kurd. That is our difference. But the problem is this; I am also a citizen of this country. I am a politician who strives to change the order, the system, and the constitution. I did not do anything that would harm the Republic of Turkey. I did not sell rivers to foreigners, I did not sell streams, I did not sell olive groves. They protect the state, and we harm it, is that so? Peker later confessed that he took the task to create a climate of fear on behalf of the state. I spoke to stop this, and I received a 55-year sentence.

'I AM A KURD, I DO NOT WANT TO SIGN THE TURKISHNESS CONTRACT'

Referring to Barış Ünlü's book 'The Turkishness Contract,' Demirtaş said, "Everyone who signs the Turkishness Contract is valid for the state. If you say, 'I will not sign this,' woe to you. It doesn't matter even if you are Turkish. I also have Turkish friends; I have a Turkish grocer, I speak Turkish, I write in Turkish, I have 7 books in Turkish. I have no problem with Turks. I am a Kurd, I do not want to sign the Turkishness Contract. I want to be a citizen of this country as I am. Look at a wall graffiti: 'If you are a Turk, be proud; if not, obey.' When I was making these speeches for which I was sentenced, this was written on the wall in Cizre," he said.

'DID THE STATE NOT COMMIT TORTURE?'

Demirtaş continued his defense:

The state we speak of is not made of flesh and bone. We are criticizing those who commit these crimes in the name of the state. Has the state not committed torture for thousands of years? Has it not killed a person? Is this what you believe? This state has committed torture, I swear it has. It has killed civilians, it has burned villages. These have been done. If we cannot hold the prime minister accountable, who will we hold accountable? What happened when I said, 'The state is a serial killer'? Cemile Çağırga was kept in this refrigerator for days for burial. As a politician, I have to make this speech. Hacı Lokman Birlik, his body was dragged, the video was published. While these were happening, am I the guilty one because I made this speech? Is this torture? It is torture. How is calling this torture a crime?

'EVEN IF YOU GIVE ME 55 THOUSAND YEARS, NOT 55 YEARS, I WILL DEFEND HUMAN DIGNITY'

Reminding of what happened during the curfews, Demirtaş said, "Taybet İnan, at the age of 65, her body remained on the street for 7 days in front of her own house. I begged, I said, 'Don't do this.' The woman's body is rotting in front of her family's eyes, I said don't do it. Under the rule of the Islamist government, the body of the Kurdish Taybet İnan was left in the open. As a Kurdish politician, I defended the rights of this Kurdish woman. Even if you give me a 55,000-year sentence, not 55 years, I will defend it. I defend human dignity. If you punish those who defend human dignity, the state turns into a mafia. Special operations police entered the house, left their sperm on the bed. They wrote on the wall, 'We came, you weren't here.' What kind of counter-terrorism is this? I have criticized this state. These were done, and even more tortures were done. If we read the reports, you would be horrified," he said.

'THIS IS NOT GAZA; THIS IS CİZRE, NUSAYBİN, SUR'

Showing photos from the curfew period, Demirtaş explained the following:

You remember this scene. I will say Gaza; no, this is Cizre, Nusaybin, Sur. It was the state that did this. It drew three crescents, it wrote 'the state has arrived.' Why is it a crime when I say the state did it? It writes it itself, 'the state has arrived.' These did not happen in the distant past. These happened while I was making these speeches. If there are armed people around, the law does what is necessary, but you cannot show me the law here. Will you say, is the state this bad? The state is not this bad, but those who have seized the state are bad, my brother, what can we do?

'SINCE INSULTING A GANG IS NOT A CRIME, I MUST BE ACQUITTED'

These were the soldiers on duty at that time. JÖH and PÖH commanders are imprisoned for the coup. Does this not occur to any member of the judiciary? Could they not have done all this destruction to prepare the ground for the coup? It was exactly like that. That was the state. All those I criticized there are imprisoned for the coup. You don't believe that they would destroy a house in Cizre and torture a civilian, but these people bombed the Parliament. Erdoğan, who said 'leave no stone unturned' as much as the FETÖ members, is also guilty. You cannot call it a state if it has no connection with the law; it can only be a gang. Since there is no crime called 'insulting a gang,' I must be acquitted.

'I AM SPEAKING FROM PRISON TODAY, TOMORROW YOU MIGHT SEE ME SPEAKING FROM POWER'

Stating that he would say his final words in the continuation of his defense, Demirtaş said:

The society is paying the bill for the lawlessness committed to keep us in prison. The dollar is rising, inflation is rising. The judiciary, which has turned into an apparatus of the government, has collapsed the economy. Retirees pay 22 thousand TL every month so that Demirtaş and Kavala can stay in prison. Civil servants pay one salary. So to speak, we are serving paid imprisonment, and you are paying for it. Why? So that this government can stay. I am speaking from prison today, tomorrow you might see me speaking from power. I am ambitious. One day, as Selahattin Demirtaş, I will govern this country with the support of the people. We will not be vengeful. If you sentence me today, you will have increased the price of cheese and tomatoes a little more. You will have reduced trust in the law a little more.

News Source: 12punto