Stripped of MP status, HDP's Gergerlioğlu to apply to ECtHR

Photo: HDP

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Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, whose parliamentary mandate was revoked on March 17 after his conviction for "terror propaganda" became final, has said that he will apply to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)

He might go to prison within a couple of days as he was notified on March 22 to turn himself in within 10 days, he said during a press conference yesterday (March 31) at the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Ankara.

The Constitutional Court yesterday rejected an application against his expulsion from the parliament but has not examined the application against his prison sentence.

"I may go to prison within a couple of days but the last shelter of all of us is the Constitutional Court ... I think [it will] say stop to injustice at the last point," he said, adding that he will apply to the ECtHr regarding the application rejected by the Constitutional Court.

What happened?

HDP Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was sentenced to 2 years, 6 months in prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" on February 21, 2018, because of a social media post from 2016. The conviction was upheld by the 16th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassationon February 19.

Speaking shortly after this ruling was handed down, Gergerlioğlu said that the verdict was "political", adding, "Strip searches, abductions, tortures... Some people got disturbed by us talking about all these."

He also made an application to the Constitutional Court. However, the final ruling of the court was read out at the Plenary Session of the Parliament on March 17, 2021 and he was stripped of his MP duty. He refused to leave the parliament in protest of the decision, starting a "justice watch."

During his protest, he was detained at the parliament as part of a new investigation on March 21 and released on the same day after giving testimony. (HA/VK)