Jwanro Karim known as Jwanro Balaban (file)
PM:05:54:01/09/2021
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SULAIMANI — A lawyer for an artist who was found dead in
suspicious circumstances earlier this summer accused the Degala Police of
failing to arrest the main suspect and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of
interfering in the investigation.
Jwanro Karim, who is popularly known as Jwanro Balaban, was
found strangled in June in Palka Rash village in Erbil governorate’s Degala
district.
Karim’s family believes that a senior official in the
Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) militarized police, known as the
Zeravani, is responsible and has provided police with information about the alleged
crime and suspect.
Lawyer Nariman Ahmed said at a press conference on Wednesday
(September 1) that "the Degala Police is careless about arresting [KDP]
members, so he has not been arrested.”
Ahmed alleged that the police had spread rumors that Karim
had "social problems” in an effort to mislead the public about the artist’s
death.
"We believe that this is a political case, more than a
legal case and there are other plans behind it," he said.
"On August 8, we presented a letter to the
investigating judge, and we insisted on hastening the arrest of the man accused
of killing Jwanro, but he has not yet been arrested," the lawyer added.
Rule of law is often ignored in the Kurdistan Region when it
comes to members of the ruling parties, allowing them to skirt scrutiny and
accountability.
(NRT Digital Media)