Dismissed MP Gergerlioğlu detained at home

After Gergerlioğlu's detention, his son posted this photograph showing his belongings on Twitter.

Click to read the article in Turkish

Stripped of his MP status, Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was detained at his home in the capital city of Ankara today (April 2).

In a Twitter post, his son Salih Gergerlioğlu said, "They came to arrest my father.

"The same scandal was repeated," he said in another message, referring to Gergerlioğlu's detention at the parliament two weeks ago when police did not allow him to perform his prayers and change his clothes.

The politician was taken to the Ankara Security Directorate, from where he will be sent to prison to serve his sentence.

Salih Gergerlioğlu also shared a video showing the moments of his father's detention:

Sözümüz var, gözü arkada kalmayacak. pic.twitter.com/FXEzZT0Upa

— Salih Gergerlioğlu (@salihro) April 2, 2021

CLICK - Gergerlioğlu: I won't turn myself in, they can come and take me by force

What happened?

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was sentenced to 2 years, 6 months in prison on the 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 Cassation on 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.

The Constitutional Court rejected an application against the revocation of his parliamentary mandate on March 31. His application against his prison sentence is pending at the court.

(EKN/VK)