Court of Cassation upholds prison sentence for deposed co-mayor of Van, Bekir Kaya

Bekir Kaya was arrested after he was dismissed from duty by the government while he was serving as the co-mayor of Van Metropolitan Municipality. He has been in prison for over five years.

The former co-mayor was sentenced to 8 years and 3 months in prison on a series of arbitrary charges of “participating in illegal meetings and marches and not dispersing despite a police warning”, “being a member of a terrorist organization”, “threatening by uttering the names of criminal organizations” and “helping a terrorist organization knowingly and willingly”.

The Court of Cassation has approved the decision of the Van 2nd High Criminal Court, arguing that it is “in accordance with the law”.

The Turkish judiciary claims that a bridge built by the municipality in Çatak district was built for the members of the organization. Another claim is that “Kaya delivered a huge amount of money to Qandil, the PKK’s headquarter in northern Iraq. Allegations against Kaya were later refuted one by one throughout the trial. However, the sentence given to Kaya was first approved by the Erzurum Divisional Court and then sent to the Court of Cassation.