MP not prosecuted for calling civilian casualties in Iraq bombing "murder"

DENK parliamentarian Selçuk Öztürk will not be prosecuted for calling the deaths of Iraqi civilians during two bombings carried out by Dutch F-16 fighter jets "murder" in a parliamentary debate late last year. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) concluded that he had done nothing punishable, AD reports.

Over 600 soldiers and veterans filed reports against Öztürk, accusing him of sowing hatred, insult and defamation.

Öztürk made his remark during a debate in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, about two bombings in Iraq in which over 70 civilians were killed. Kamer president Khadija Arib asked him to take the statement back, but he refused. The surviving relatives also speak of murder, he said.

In a letter to Öztürk's lawyer, the OM now said that the parliamentarian cannot be prosecuted. As he made the statement during a parliamentary debate, he enjoys parliamentary immunity.

Fellow DENK MP Farid Azarkan repeated the statement on television later that evening. She will also not be prosecuted, the OM decided. According to the OM, the statement was "offensive", but not "unnecessarily offensive" and therefore not punishable.