Meral Danış Beştaş

Meral Danis Beştaş (born 5. April 1967 in Diyarbakir ) is a deputy of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and deputy chairman of the Democratic Party of the Peoples (Halkların Demokratik Partisi, HDP).

Beştaş studied law at Dicle University , graduated in 1990 and worked as a lawyer. She was a board member of the Diyarbakır Bar Association. Beştaş was awarded the Weimar City Human Rights Prize in 1998. Beştaş is of Kurdish origin, married to the lawyer Mesut Beştaş and has two children. She was arrested in January 2017 and released on condition shortly afterwards. Subsequently, pre-trial detention was imposed. She is being held in Silivri Prison.

The 66-page indictment by the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor's Office accuses Beştaş of sharing a social media call from her party to take to the streets in 2014 in connection with the Islamic State siege of Kobani . As a result, there were violent clashes with the dead from October 6th to 8th. Another charge is said to have occurred on September 13, 2015. According to the prosecutor, Beştaş followed an appeal by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê, PKK) and tried to reach the Sur district despite the curfew. Requests from the police to disperse, she did not obey and remained among the perpetrators. Beştaş committed a crime on behalf of an armed terrorist organization without being a member of that terrorist organization. The penalty range is 8.5 to 23 years imprisonment.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CNN Türk from February 22, 2017