Iraqi court acquits Kirkuk Council head, reverses six-month prison sentence
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The federal court of Iraq acquitted the head of the Kirkuk Provincial Council (KPC), Rebwar Talabani, reversing a six-month prison sentence issued against him earlier in December, Talabani’s brother announced on Sunday.
A court in Kirkuk on Dec. 26 issued a six-month prison sentence against Talabani, who was charged in absentia for “illegally” spending public funds.
The court’s ruling stated that Talabani had spent 76 million Iraqi dinars ($63,567) “outside of [the] legal framework” of the KPC and issued an arrest warrant for the Kurdish official.
However, Talabani’s brother, Bakhtiyar, announced that the federal court “on Sunday acquitted Talabani of all charges laid against him by Rakan al-Jabouri [acting governor], Rash Sidiq [acting KPC head], and his group.”
On his Facebook account, Bakhtiyar claimed the court had “completely closed the case, and from today on, he [Talabani] could resume his work as the head of KPC, as well as ask for financial and moral compensation.”
Talabani’s brother also thanked Masoud Barzani, the President of the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the former President of the Kurdistan Region, “for his ongoing support and care as a Kurdish Marja [advisor] to Talabani’s case.”
“We also thank his Excellency’s team he sent for defending Talabani,” he continued.
Rebwar Talabani has been the head of KPC since 2014. He is a member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU). He has often been mistaken as being a PUK member due to his surname, Talabani.
Following the attack and military takeover of Kirkuk by Iraqi forces and Shia militias on Oct. 16, 2017, Talabani, along with half of the KPC’s members, fled to the Kurdistan Region. Since then, the body has repeatedly failed to convene due to lack of quorum.
Since October 2017, several complaints have been issued against Talabani for raising the Kurdistan national flag in Kirkuk alongside the Iraqi one, as well as agreeing to hold the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum in the disputed province, which followed the KPC’s agreement by majority vote.
The oil-rich and ethnically diverse Kirkuk remains a territory disputed between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government of Iraq, a long-standing issue between the two governments.
Editing by Nadia Riva