Local court rejects appeal over detention of CHP lawmaker

ANKARA

A local Turkish court rejected an appeal to the detention of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul lawmaker Enis Berberoğlu on June 15, a day after the MP was sentenced to 25 years in jail for espionage. 

The Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court rejected an appeal by Berberoğlu’s lawyer, Murat Ergün, to immediately detain Berberoğlu just after the issuing of the sentence.

The court sentenced Berberoğlu to 25 years in prison for “leaking state secrets” in the Syria-bound intelligence trucks case on the grounds that he was a flight risk.

Ergün lodged an appeal at the higher court on the ruling to immediately detain his client, but the court rejected the appeal.

The ruling to immediately detain Berberoğlu will also be appealed at the Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court, as objections to detentions are made at a higher local court.

Ergün also appealed to the Istanbul Regional Courts of Justice regarding the 25-year sentence to the MP.

After the regional court circuit, the case can be referred to the Supreme Court and then the Constitutional Court if needed.