Attorneys Apply to 3 Courts for CHP’s Berberoğlu’s Release

Click to read the article in Turkish

An appeal was lodged to three separate courts for the release of arrested Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Enis Berberoğlu.

Berberoğlu's attorney Murat Ergün applied to the Constitutional Court, the Appellate Court and 14th Heavy Criminal Court and demanded Berberoğlu's release.

Berberoğlu was sentenced to life imprisonment on the charge of "espionage" in the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) Trucks case in which journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül also stood trial. His sentence was later reduced to 25 years in prison. The appellate court reversed the prison sentence decision and remanded the case to the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court to be examined and ruled.

He is still being kept in detention on remand on the grounds of "suspicion that he could escape" while there were still legal remedies available.

CLICK - Berberoğlu to be Tried Again

"No flight risk at stake"

In the appeal petition, Berberoğlu's attorneys pointed out that there was no conviction for a crime anymore and recalled that Berberoğlu had initially been arrested on the grounds that he was at flight risk, considering the severity of the penalty.

And since the decision of the trial court was reversed by the appellate court, there was no reason to keep Berberoğlu behind bars anymore, the petition argued.

The petition also pointed out the high probability, that Berberoğlu would be acquitted by the court and to the fact that keeping him behind bars during this period would conform neither with the law nor with human rights. (EKN/DG)