* Photo: HDP
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Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, who was stripped of his MP status on March 17 and arrested on April 3 as per a final court ruling, has sent a message from prison about the practice of strip search in Turkey's prisons.
Raising concerns and publicity about strip search in detention and prisons for a long time now, Gergerlioğlu's message has been shared on his Twitter account. The dismissed Kocaeli MP of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has sent the following message about the issue:
"I have been put in jail because I said, 'There is strip search.' I have found the document of strip search in prison. In the prisoner assistance booklet, it says, 'Even the underwear can be pulled down.'
"Where are the ones who have been denying it for months, saying, 'I don't believe it.' You cannot compete with the truth."
"Çıplak arama vardır" dedim diye cezaevine atıldım. Cezaevinde çıplak aramanın belgesini buldum. Mahkum yardım kitapçığında, "Çamaşırı bile indirilebilir" diyor. "İnanmıyorum" diyerek aylarca inkar edenler nerede? Gerçekle baş edemezsiniz.
— Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu (@gergerliogluof) April 10, 2021
Gergerlioğlu's trial and expulsion from the parliament
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 the year 2016. The conviction was upheld by the 16th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation on February 19, 2021.
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.
Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was detained from his house on April 2, 2021; he was arrested and sent to prison shortly afterwards.
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. (RT/SD)
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