JAILED opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) mayor Adnan Selcuk Mizrakli warned of a conspiracy as a Turkish court ruled today that he must remain behind bars on trumped-up terrorism charges.

Mr Mizrakli was elected co-mayor of the largely Kurdish Diyarbakir municipality in the local elections in March 2019.

He was one of a number of democratically elected mayors who were removed from post by the state in August last year.

The HDP warned at the time that a “political genocide” was being waged against Kurds by authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The removals were seen by opponents as revenge for the humiliation inflicted on Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which lost control of the capital Ankara but, more crucially, the financial powerhouse of Istanbul in a controversially rerun election.

At least 23 HDP mayors have been removed from their posts and replaced by government-appointed trustees.

Mr Mizrakli was arrested in October, soon after speaking via videolink at a Westminster meeting on the political situation in Turkey. He is charged with what his lawyers described today as “trumped-up terrorism offences.”

In another twist, the woman who gave the evidence that led to his arrest was sensationally freed from prison, receiving a minor sentence of one year and eight months at her hearing today regarding the so-called Nusaybin case.

So far in the Nusaybin trials, 39 people have been handed aggravated life sentences for a range of charges that include membership of a terrorist organisation.

They were arrested following an uprising against Turkish military operations in 2016, during which at least 80 per cent of the largely Kurdish city was destroyed.

But Hicran Berna Ayverdi was released pending appeal in September after giving evidence against Mr Mizrakli.

She claimed to have heard that he had treated a member of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) during his work as a doctor at a private hospital in Diyarbakir and the court rewarded her for her “sincere declarations.”

Mr Mizrakli’s hearing was attended by German politicians and other European observers. Appearing via Segbis videolink, he said: “I understood that I was confronted with a pre-trial decision when I looked at the investigation file. I will no longer participate in the hearings via Segbis as this practice is unlawful. My right to vote and stand for election has been abolished.”

The hearing was adjourned until Monday March 9.