Kirkuk’s criminal court sentenced Rebwar Talabani, the former acting chairman of the Kirkuk provincial council, to six years in prison earlier this month, in accordance with Article 340 of the Iraqi penal code. The ruling provides Talabani the right to surrender himself to the court and appeal the decision.
The court also notified relevant authorities to prohibit Talabani from traveling outside of Iraq, and confirmed the freezing of his assets.
“I have not officially received the court’s decision, but I will definitely appeal it,” Talabani told Rudaw on Tuesday, “This is not the first time a complaint has been filed against me, and we have succeeded in all the previous ones, but I will, in no way, abide by the court’s decision.”
Talabani had been the deputy chairman of Kirkuk’s provincial council since 2005, representing the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU). He became the acting chairman of the council following the election of then-chairman Hasan Turan to the Iraqi parliament in 2014. Talabani filled the position until October 2017, when the Iraqi armed forces retook control of Kirkuk.
The former official had been previously tried for having authorized raising the Kurdish flag over Kirkuk’s governmental institutions while in charge.
The latest ruling against Talabani is due to accusations that the former chairman failed to handover properties in his possession that belong to the provincial council, after leaving his post and the province following the events of October 16, 2017.
Article 340 of the Iraqi penal code states that, “any public official or agent who willfully inflicts damage on the property or interests of the authority for which he works or to which he is associated by virtue of his position or on another's property that has been entrusted to him is punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding seven years or by detention.”
Kirkuk, a diverse oil-rich province of Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen and Christian residents, is disputed between the federal Iraqi and Kurdish regional governments.
In 2014, a joint administration of Kirkuk between Erbil and Baghdad came to an end when Islamic State (ISIS) militants seized control of a third of the country. When ISIS entered Kirkuk province, Iraqi forces dissipated and Peshmerga forces filled in the vacuum.
Kirkuk remained under full Kurdish control until October 16, 2017, when Iraqi forces retook the city, expelling Kurdish security forces, following the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence referendum.
Additional reporting by Soran Hussein and Aso Fishagi
