Sara Kaya was elected co-mayor to Mardin’s Nusaybin district municipality in the local elections of March 31, 2014. She was arrested during a house raid in Nusaybin on 13 January 2017, accused of 'disrupting the unity and integrity of the state' and ‘being member of an illegal organization’. She was then dismissed from her charge and a trustee was appointed to the municipality.

As the Kurdish politician remains in jail for over three years, the final hearing in her trial was held at the 4th Heavy Penal Court of Mardin on Monday.

Kaya attended the hearing from Tarsus T Type Closed Prison, where she is held, via the video-conferencing system SEGBIS.

While the prosecution asked for life imprisonment, Kaya rejected the accusations and her lawyers asked for her acquittal.

The court then ruled a lack of evidence for the accusation of “disrupting the unity and integrity of the state” and sentenced Kaya to 13 years and 6 months for “membership to an illegal organization”, to 6 months for “misconduct in office” and 2 years to “instigating hatred and animosity in public”.