EH Bildu-Esquerra Republicana Group asked Spanish Government about Er and Dağ 

Senators of the Parliamentary Group Esquerra Republicana – Euskal Herria Bildu at the Spanish Parliament have tabled a question to the Spanish Government about the death sentence handed out to Abdurrahman Er and Mazlum Dağ in South Kurdistan.

Senators Gorka Elejabarrieta Diaz (Euskal Herria Bildu) Jordi Marti Deulofeu (Esquerra Republicana) have presented to the Spanish Government a question regarding the death penalty handed out to Abdurrahman Er and Mazlum Dağ.

The Senators of the Parliamentary Group Esquerra Republicana – Euskal Herria Bildu presented the following question demanding a written answer:

“On February 11 this year, Abdurrahman Er and Mazlum Dağ were sentenced to death by the Second Chamber of the Erbil Criminal Court in the Autonomous Region of Iraqi Kurdistan, governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The sentence was confirmed by the Court of Appeal on September 22.

The two Kurdish citizens, together with two other people, are accused of the killing of the Turkish vice consul Osman Köse in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan on 17 July 2019 in Erbil.

Abdurrahman Er and Mazlum Dağ denied any responsibility for the murder and denounced being tortured during interrogation, as well as being subjected to continuous violence in prisons where they are held in solitary confinement. The two Kurdish citizens refused to sign a prepared confession presented to them by the authorities.

The European Union had already asked the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in

2015 to reinstate the moratorium on the death penalty, after the execution of three people in August of that same year.

In these 5 years, relations, including economic ones, between the European Union and the KGR have intensified. The European Union and the Council of Europe reaffirmed, on October 10, 2020, World Day Against the Death Penalty, their “opposition to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances” and renewed their “call for the universal abolition of the death penalty. ”

In the context of deep political, economic and cultural relations and sharing the values of peace, justice and human rights among the institutions and citizens of the European Union and the KRG, and considering the death penalty as the most flagrant institutionalized violation of human rights, it is essential to appeal for the annulment of the death penalty against Abdurrahman Er and Mazlum Dağ.

In this regard, we ask the government the following question:

– Has this government taken an interest in the case of Abdurrahman Er and Mazlum Dağ before international human rights organizations?

– Would this government be in a position to express its concern about this case in the European institutions?”

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