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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - In the absence of lawyers and family members, a court in Turkey's Izmir on Tuesday sentenced the murderer of a female member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) to life in prison, a verdict that was not enough to satisfy her family members and fellow party members as they demand the court must disclose the motive and identity of those who were behind the murder.
The verdict was handed down during the seventh hearing of the murder case of Deniz Poyraz at the Shakran Prison Campus in Aliagaya, Izmir.
On June 17, 2021, Poyraz, a 38-year-old member of the HDP was killed in Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir when Onur Gencer, a gunman, entered the party's office and shot her dead.
Poyraz’s parents spoke to Rudaw and found the court's decision insufficient. The family and lawyers are demanding the disclosure of the murderer's wider connections and those who were behind it. The family has decided to appeal the verdict.
"The murderer did not do such a thing on his own," Abdullah Poyraz, Deniz Poyraz's distraught father, told Rudaw’s Omer Sonmez, claiming that the killer was “a man of the state."
The father added that the masterminds of the murder must be brought before justice.
"The people who decided, ordered, and planned the attack on the HDP building must be brought before the court," he said.
The parents say the Kurdish issue in Turkey will have to be resolved, peace be established and killings like this not happen again.
The HDP has previously placed blame for the attack on the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Both the AKP and MHP have condemned the attack.
The verdict was handed down during the seventh hearing of the murder case of Deniz Poyraz at the Shakran Prison Campus in Aliagaya, Izmir.
On June 17, 2021, Poyraz, a 38-year-old member of the HDP was killed in Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir when Onur Gencer, a gunman, entered the party's office and shot her dead.
Poyraz’s parents spoke to Rudaw and found the court's decision insufficient. The family and lawyers are demanding the disclosure of the murderer's wider connections and those who were behind it. The family has decided to appeal the verdict.
"The murderer did not do such a thing on his own," Abdullah Poyraz, Deniz Poyraz's distraught father, told Rudaw’s Omer Sonmez, claiming that the killer was “a man of the state."
The father added that the masterminds of the murder must be brought before justice.
"The people who decided, ordered, and planned the attack on the HDP building must be brought before the court," he said.
The parents say the Kurdish issue in Turkey will have to be resolved, peace be established and killings like this not happen again.
The HDP has previously placed blame for the attack on the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Both the AKP and MHP have condemned the attack.
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