The wife of a newly re-elected member of the Turkish Parliament who is currently serving a prison sentence plans to protest her husband’s incarceration in front of one of the country’s top courts, the Sözcü daily reported on Monday.
Oya Berberoğlu, wife of Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) deputy Enis Berberoğlu, who was re-elected in the June 24 general election and thus re-acquired immunity from prosecution, announced that she would stage a protest over her husband’s continued jailing, in front of the Supreme Court of Appeals building in Ankara.
“I have been waiting for two-and-a-half years. I won’t be waiting any longer,” she said.
In May 2016 parliament voted to eliminate the immunity from prosecution of 138 deputies from among the 667 criminal cases from local courts filed with the legislature for review.
A year later Berberoğlu was arrested on charges of revealing state secrets by providing official documents to journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, who published several articles claiming that trucks operated by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) had carried weapons to northern Syria.
In February a local İstanbul court sentenced Berberoğlu to five years, 10 months in prison, a verdict that was appealed by his lawyers.
After the election his lawyers applied to the 16th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, which had been reviewing his case due to the appeal, to drop the case, a request rejected by the court.
“This week our lawyer will apply to the 17th Chamber, a higher court, to appeal the 16th Chamber’s decision. I have no idea what kind of decision will emerge from there,” Oya Berberoğlu said.
“After the application [to a higher court], I will listen to neither Enis nor his lawyers. I will protest, that’s it. I’ve waited long enough.”
In response to the 16th Chamber’s decision, Enis Berberoğlu decided to protest with self-imposed isolation.
“From Monday morning onward, I have decided not to have open or closed meetings with my family, my lawyers or other deputies, not to exercise my right to a defense in court and to halt all communications with the outside world,” Berberoğlu said in a written statement shared by his lawyer.