Upper court also rejects dismissed MP Berberoğlu's appeal despite Constitutional Court judgment

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The İstanbul 15th Heavy Penal Court has rejected an appeal for the retrial of Enis Berberoğlu, a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) who was stripped of MP status in June due to his prison sentence.

The Constitutional Court ruled last month that Berberoğlu's rights to be elected and engage in political activities and personal liberty and security and he should stand retrial.

However, the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court defied the top court judgment on October 13, concluding that there was no ground for a retrial.

After the court rejected an objection by Berberoğlu's attorneys, the file was sent to the 15th Heavy Penal Court, the upper court.

Announcing its ruling today (October 23), the court ruled that "there was no ground to give a judgment" and sent the file back to the 14th Heavy Penal Court.

Berberoğlu was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in prison for "disclosing information that has to remain confidential for the security of the state or domestic or foreign political interests" over a news report on daily Cumhuriyet that included photographs allegedly showing trucks owned by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) bringing weapons to Syria. Berberoğlu was accused of providing the photographs to the newspaper.

What happened?

Over a news report on "MİT Trucks" published on Cumhuriyet newspaper, Enis Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years in prison on the charge of "disclosing information that has to remain confidential for the security of the state or domestic or foreign political interests for purposes of political and military espionage." Following this ruling handed down by the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court, Berberoğlu was arrested on June 14, 2017.

The ruling of the local court was reversed by the 2nd Penal Chamber of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice, the court of appeals, on October 9, 2017. In its related ruling, the court of appeals noted that "the elements of the crime 'disclosing confidential information for purposes of espionage' would not arise if it was admitted that the secret had been disclosed before."

However, the İstanbul 14th Court of First Instance found this ruling of reversal contrary to both due procedure and the law and returned it.

Reexamining the file, the court of appeals ruled that Berberoğlu should be sentenced to 5 years, 10 months in prison, but this time not for "espionage," but for "disclosing information that has to remain confidential for the security of the state or domestic or foreign political interests." With this ruling, the court also ruled that Berberoğlu should remain behind bars.

The Public Prosecutor of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice appealed against this ruling. Requesting that Berberoğlu be penalized on the charge of "espionage," the prosecutor sent this request to the Court of Cassation.

The petition demanded that Enis Berberoğlu, who was still behind bars at the time, be penalized on charge of "disclosing information that has to remain confidential for the security of the state or domestic or foreign political interests for purposes of political or military espionage."

After Enis Berberoğlu was reelected as an MP from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) on June 24 General Elections in 2018, he applied to the Court of Cassation and requested the stay of the execution of his prison sentence. This request was rejected on July 20.

However, on September 20, 2018, the Court of Cassation accepted the request of stay of execution on the grounds of Berberoğlu's legislative immunity and ruled that he should be released.

The finalized ruling on Berberoğlu was read out at the General Assembly of the Parliament on June 4, 2020, and he was stripped of MP status. He was detained and arrested the next day. On the same day, he was released from prison as part of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) measures.

(EKN/VK)