Emine Şenyaşar, who has been demanding justice for three of her family members murdered by people connected to a lawmaker from Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), faces a prison sentence for allegedly insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip, the Artı Gerçek news website reported.
Şenyaşar was accused of insulting Erdoğan while demanding justice for her relatives on October 8, 2022, the 579th day of her “Justice Watch” in front of the Urfa Courthouse.
The first hearing in her trial is scheduled for October 31, 2024.
Şenyaşar has faced 31 investigations since she began a sit-in in March 2021 in front of the courthouse to seek justice for her loved ones, 10 of which later turned into prosecutions.
In June 2018 her husband, Esvet Şenyaşar, and two of their sons, Adil and Celal, were brutally murdered in Şanlıurfa by the family of AKP deputy İbrahim Halil Yıldız.
The three were initially attacked in their store and taken to a hospital. However, they were followed by Yıldız’s family to the hospital, where they were ultimately murdered. Eight more people were injured during fights between the two groups. An older brother of Yıldız was also killed.
According to her son Ferit Şenyaşar, who survived the incident, bullets from 17 different guns were retrieved from the body of one of his brothers.
Two Şenyaşar brothers, Ferit and Fadıl, who were injured but survived, were later detained, and Fadıl Şenyaşar was arrested. However, none of Yıldız’s relatives or his bodyguards were detained even though three people had died. Only 15 months later, on September 18, 2020, w
