Court abides by Constitutional Court ruling on Enis Berberoğlu

* Photo: Barış Yarkadaş / Twitter

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After the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Office urged the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court to abide by the ruling of right violation given by the Constitutional Court for Enis Berberoğlu, a dismissed MP from the Republican People's Party (CHP), the court has announced its ruling.

Having defied the first ruling of right violation given by the supreme court, the 14th Heavy Penal Court has, this time, concluded that the ruling of the Constitutional Court is binding and ruled for the retrial of Berberoğlu.

As the court has also ruled that the trial shall be halted and the final verdict, together with its all consequences, shall be eliminated, this ruling has now opened the way for Berberoğlu to be an MP again.

As indicated in the detailed ruling of the Constitutional Court, the court board has ruled that as his rights to engage in political activities and to be elected were violated and he was again an MP during the trial, the trial shall be halted until his legislative immunity is lifted.

According to the local court ruling, an official letter will now be addressed to the Ministry of Justice to lift the legislative immunity of Berberoğlu and a summary of proceedings will be issued against him.

Accordingly, the court has ruled that the trial shall continue in the event that his legislative immunity is lifted or his status as an MP ends.

The court has also ruled that a copy of the ruling shall be sent to the Speaker's Office of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) and to the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to inform them.   

CLICK - Local court defies Constitutional Court ruling of right violation for Enis Berberoğlu

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

What happened?

Over a news report on "MİT Trucks" published on Cumhuriyet newspaper, Enis Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years in prison 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 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 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.

On September 17, 2020, the General Assembly of the Constitutional Court examined the application of Enis Berberoğlu and concluded that his right to be elected and engage in political activities and right to personal liberty and security had been violated. Around a month later, on October 13, the local court defied this decision and concluded that there was no ground for retrial.

After the local court and the upper court defied the first ruling of right violation of the Constitutional Court, Berberoğlu made a second individual application, indicating that his right to be elected and engage in political activities and right to personal liberty and security were violated.

Concluding this second application on January 21, the Constitutional Court concluded that the rights of Enis Berberoğlu were violated. (HA/SD)