Main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) former deputy Enis Berberoğlu officially regained his position as a parliamentarian on Thursday after the court dropped criminal complaints against him.
The Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court on Monday halted criminal enforcement against Berberoğlu last week by approving the request of the prosecutor’s office for a new trial.
The opinion of the prosecutor’s office was presented after the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Turkey (AYM), which said last month for the second time that Berberoğlu’s rights were violated by lower courts.
The prosecutor’s office stated that the Constitutional Court is authorized by the Constitution to accept and decide on individual applications and that its decisions are constitutionally binding.
The decision was read at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) on Thursday, making his return to the deputyship official.
In September, the Constitutional Court’s General Assembly ruled that Berberoğlu's rights were breached, including his right to stand for elections and engage in political activities and his right to freedom and security.
The original appeal noted that the “right to stand for elections and engage in political activities and the person’s right to freedom and security and the right to question the witness, since the alleged witness was not ready at the hearing, was violated because of the continuation of the trial and the detention of a deputy who regained his right of privacy.”
Following the first ruling, Berberoğlu attempted to reverse the verdict of the lower court at the Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court in accordance with the Constitutional Court’s decision. The local court’s stance on the issue, however, remained the same, leading Berberoğlu to apply to the Constitutional Court a second time, after which it again ruled the former deputy’s rights had been breached.
Berberoğlu was stripped of deputyship in June 2020. In 2018, a Turkish court ruled to release Berberoğlu after having sentenced him to five years and 10 months for his role in leaking secret documents about National Intelligence Organization (MIT) trucks.
Berberoğlu was accused of supplying confidential information regarding the country's intelligence service to two journalists, Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, who have both been charged with willfully aiding a terrorist group without being a member.
