HDP files charges against Turkish Interior Minister for insulting deputy

The officials of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) filed charges against the Turkish Interior Minister over his remarks about the arrest of HDP deputy Semra Guzel.

Minister Suleyman Soylu had announced Guzel's arrest on Twitter on 2 September, calling her "HDPKK member," and claiming that she was on her way to the border city of Edirne with a fake ID when she was arrested.

HDP's Legal Commission filed charges against Soylu, the police officers involved in the arrest and some media outlets for insulting, prejudicing a fair trial, mistreatment and inciting people to hostility.

The Commission said:

"Although Guzel's escape or causing an injury was not possible, the pictures delivered to the press and social media by the police revealed that she was handcuffed behind her back."

It added that the pictures also showed two woman police officers forcing Guzel's arms brutally upward behind her back, grabbing her hair and shoving on her neck to painfully force her head down.

Diyarbakir deputy Semra Guzel's immunity was lifted on 1 March in the context of some photos taken in 2014 with a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who she was engaged to before she was elected to the parliament.