Arrest of Eren Erdem was 'not a proportionate measure,’ says Constitutional Court

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The Constitutional Court has concluded that the arrest of former main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Eren Erdem was "not legal" and "his right to personal liberty and security has been violated." Eren Erdem will be paid 30 thousand lira in damages.

Examining the individual application of Erdem on June 9, the Court indicated that as per the Article 19 of the Constitution, a person shall be arrested only when there is strong criminal evidence.

Eren Erdem was previously arrested for 16 months, the local court gave a ruling of release for him on October 31, 2019.

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In its ruling on Erdem, the Constitutional Court has noted that while the local court gave a ruling of arrest based on a suspicion of escape, it failed to make an evaluation pertaining to other reasons of arrest. Elaborating further on the alleged suspicion, the Court has underlined that "it is not possible to say that concrete facts were put forward to support this suspicion." 

The Court has added that Erdem did not "behave in a way that would create a public suspicion that he would leave the country through illegal ways."

Indicating that "he was arrested nearly two years after the Constitutional amendment introducing an exemption for legislative immunity entered into force," the top court has also underlined that Eren Erdem was arrested when the judicial process was in the phase of prosecution.

"As part of the investigation that was launched in 2014, the investigating authorities did not consider it necessary to implement a measure of arrest or any other judicial control measures until the applicant was elected an MP for the first time on June 7, 2015," the Constitutional Court has noted.

The Constitutional Court has also shared the following observations and commentaries about the judicial process of Erdem:

"While a measure of arrest was put into force for the applicant, it was not the case that a new fact was disclosed apart from the evidence that had been acquired in the phase of investigation.

"Moreover, when the measure of arrest was implemented for the applicant, it had been nearly a month since he could not leave Turkey for Germany due to an international travel ban imposed on him as a judicial control measure and he had to return from the airport for that reason.

"In conclusion, it was not deemed possible to accept that the measure of arrest was necessary when the related process is taken into consideration. It has been concluded that the measure of arrest imposed on the applicant was not proportionate in the conditions of the concrete incident."

Accordingly, the Constitutional Court has concluded that the right to personal liberty and security of Eren Erdem guaranteed by the Article 19 of the Constitution has been violated.

(HA/SD)