After the Court of Cassation upheld 2 years and 6 months prison sentence for HDP MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu on charges of "making propaganda for a terrorist organization" over his social media posts from 2016, the deputy was stripped of his MP status and arrested. He was sent to Sincan Prison on April 2 following a violent police raid in his office at the parliament.

In late March, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) had appealed to the Constitutional Court (AYM) to review the revocation of Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu's mandate on the grounds that “continuation of trial against a deputy with the right to freedom of expression and immunity violates his right to be elected and to engage in political activities”. The application was submitted to the General Assembly of the Constitutional Court on June 9.

The Constitutional Court has ruled on Thursday that Gergerlioğlu's ‘right to be elected and to engage in political activity" and his "right to personal liberty and security’ were violated.

BACKGROUND

Gergerlioğlu had his parliamentary mandate withdrawn in mid March due to a final judgement on terror charges. In February, the Turkish Court of Cassation had upheld a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence against the 55-year-old politician and human rights defender for his appeals for peace directed at both the Turkish state and the Kurdish movement. The judiciary interprets the commitment to peace - in this specific case in the form of a retweet from 2016 - as terror propaganda.

The politician, who is actually a doctor by profession and has made a name for himself as a human rights defender, is defending himself against the ruling with a constitutional complaint. The mandate has been revoked even though the Constitutional Court's decision on his case is still pending. According to the Turkish constitution, a deputy's mandate can be revoked if a criminal offense has been committed that would have precluded candidacy from the outset. The HDP criticizes the judge's ruling as politically motivated.