Attackers of HDP headquarters given suspended jail terms

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

An Ankara court sentenced five defendants to prison on Jan. 25 in a case regarding the attack targeting Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Ankara on Sept. 8, 2015, but suspended the sentence.

The Ankara 32nd Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced defendant Doğan Haydar Ciritcioğlu to seven years and three months in prison for various crimes including “damage to property by using caustic material,” “attempting to prevent a political party’s actions by force,” “violating the law on demonstrations,” “attempted robbery” and “breaching the impunity of workplaces.” The court suspended Ciritcioğlu’s sentence due to no previous criminal record. 

Meanwhile, the four other defendants, Aykut Dinçer, Ali Yıldırım, İlker Çelen and Mehmet Alan, were given five months in prison for “violating the law on demonstrations.” However, the court ruled also for the deferment the announcement of the verdict due to their good manner at the hearing.

The HDP headquarters in Ankara, as well as local party buildings across Turkey, were attacked in demonstrations against the killings of security personnel by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the country’s east and southeast late Sept. 8. 

Around 50 protesters marched toward Ankara’s HDP headquarters to break into the building but faced a police barricade at the entry and exit of the street where the office is located.

Several protesters, who managed to pass the barricade hurled stones at the building, smashed the entry’s HDP banner and hoisted a Turkish flag on HDP’s flag pole, after police officers fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The prosecutor’s indictment states how Ciritcioğlu entered the building and set it ablaze, which he admitted to in his testimony.