Emine Şenyaşar, who has been seeking justice for more than 600 days was notified on Friday that two more lawsuits were filed against her. Along with these two charges against Şenyaşar, a total of six lawsuits were filed out of 15 investigations.
Emine Senyaşar came into the public stage when she held a sit-in for 641 days in Turkey’s southeastern city of Şanlıurfa (Riha) demanding justice for her family members, who had been killed by bodyguards of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) MP İbrahim Halil Yıldız.
One of the family’s lawyers, Mehmet Ali Aslan, a member of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), said the new investigations were made up of alleged insults against AKP Deputy Yıldız.
Aslan told Mezopotamya Agency that all investigations had started after Şenyaşar’s justice vigil began. “We see that with these investigations, there is an effort to disrupt Emine Şenyaşar’s fight for justice,” he added.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) MP, Mahmut Tanal, announced on Friday that a member of the Şenyaşar family, who was convicted of terrorism charges, was made a member of the local chapter of the AKP.
Fadıl Şenyaşar, currently behind bars, was a member of the AKP until 14 April 2020, when records of his membership were expunged, according to Tanal.
Fadıl Şenyaşar was sentenced to 37 years and 9 months in prison in the case of the fatal fight with MP Yıldız’s relatives and bodyguards. Yıldız had been visiting shopkeepers in the area ahead of the 2018 general elections as part of his re-election campaign. His brother also lost his life in the incident, and three members of the Şenyaşar family were hospitalised. Yıldız’s relatives attacked the family in the emergency room, killing them all.
A court case began more than four years after the incident regarding the triple homicide, and the first hearing is scheduled for 17 January 2023.