Constitutional Court to rule on Hatip Dicle today
Constitutional Court to rule on Hatip Dicle today
The Constitutional Court is expected to make a decision for Hatip Dicle today who was elected with about 80 thousand votes from Diyarbakir at June 12 elections but was stripped off of his legal mandate by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) due to a former conviction declared shortly before the elections. ANF spoke with Fethi Gümüs, the lawyer of Dicle and other detained deputies, about YSK's decision and the unlawful process run by the courts.
* Some media organs and the Prime Minister Erdogan asserted that Dicle's lawyers purposely didn't disclose the conviction although they had already been informed about it before the elections. What would you like to say in this particular?
- Neither Mr. Dicle nor we had been informed about his conviction before we made the application for his candidature. The decision had been taken in Ankara where the case was being followed by another lawyer. We made the candidature application on April 11 but the verdict of conviction had been given on March 22 and not recorded nor declared to us or to the YSK. Therefore, it is a great unjustness, a slander and an accusation to assert via the press that Hatip Dicle and we had already been notified about the sentence.
We asked them to prove their slander and accusation but nobody could give an answer to us because we made the application on the basis of the criminal record of Diyarbakýr Directorate of Criminal Records which didn't have any notification about Mr. Dicle's conviction.
* Dicle's lawyers appealed to the Constitutional Court and the decision is expected to be declared today. Do you feel hopeful about the court's decision?
- We observe an agreement of the government with all its institutions as the court made a political decision, not judicial. In this case, we don't expect the court to make a decision nonconforming to this sort of agreement. We will convey the matter to the international arena after trying all the ways of the municipal law.
* Voters are reacting against the YSK and they are getting ready to appeal to the ECHR after completing the applications to the Provincial Election Board. They accuse the YSK for approving Dicle's adequacy despite the the sentence given to him.
- We already have taken some steps in this particular. People are seeking their rights because the public will was violated and abused. The task of the Supreme Election Board is to direct the case to the Assembly which is the only authority to make a decision about a deputy elected by the people.
After the decision, Mr. Dicle demanded a self-defense through lawyers but our right for self-defence was blocked by the Provincial Election Board which made an urgent decision and instantly conveyed it to the YSK. While Hatip Dicle shows reaction to the decision, we, Mr. Dicle's lawyers, will provide all kinds of legal support to them in appealing to international law.
* You are at the same time the lawyer of other five elected deputies who are still under arrest. Are you optimistic about the release of these five deputies of the Labor, Democracy and Freedom Block?
- The ongoing detention of these five deputies is not a correct decision in terms of both politics and the legal order. With reference to an emotional and political conception, the court blocked the release of the elected deputies and thus imprisoned the freewill of 80 thousand voters whose feelings, thoughts and freewill were disrespected. The ongoing detention of the deputies violates the law and the present legal order.
The court's decision brings nothing but provocation and making people take the streets.
The non execution of law brings unlawfulness, war, anarchy and terror.
If they defend law, its requirements must be fulfilled to enable a brotherhood and together-living. I am still hopeful about the release of detained deputies.
Translation: Berna Ozgencil
* Some media organs and the Prime Minister Erdogan asserted that Dicle's lawyers purposely didn't disclose the conviction although they had already been informed about it before the elections. What would you like to say in this particular?
- Neither Mr. Dicle nor we had been informed about his conviction before we made the application for his candidature. The decision had been taken in Ankara where the case was being followed by another lawyer. We made the candidature application on April 11 but the verdict of conviction had been given on March 22 and not recorded nor declared to us or to the YSK. Therefore, it is a great unjustness, a slander and an accusation to assert via the press that Hatip Dicle and we had already been notified about the sentence.
We asked them to prove their slander and accusation but nobody could give an answer to us because we made the application on the basis of the criminal record of Diyarbakýr Directorate of Criminal Records which didn't have any notification about Mr. Dicle's conviction.
* Dicle's lawyers appealed to the Constitutional Court and the decision is expected to be declared today. Do you feel hopeful about the court's decision?
- We observe an agreement of the government with all its institutions as the court made a political decision, not judicial. In this case, we don't expect the court to make a decision nonconforming to this sort of agreement. We will convey the matter to the international arena after trying all the ways of the municipal law.
* Voters are reacting against the YSK and they are getting ready to appeal to the ECHR after completing the applications to the Provincial Election Board. They accuse the YSK for approving Dicle's adequacy despite the the sentence given to him.
- We already have taken some steps in this particular. People are seeking their rights because the public will was violated and abused. The task of the Supreme Election Board is to direct the case to the Assembly which is the only authority to make a decision about a deputy elected by the people.
After the decision, Mr. Dicle demanded a self-defense through lawyers but our right for self-defence was blocked by the Provincial Election Board which made an urgent decision and instantly conveyed it to the YSK. While Hatip Dicle shows reaction to the decision, we, Mr. Dicle's lawyers, will provide all kinds of legal support to them in appealing to international law.
* You are at the same time the lawyer of other five elected deputies who are still under arrest. Are you optimistic about the release of these five deputies of the Labor, Democracy and Freedom Block?
- The ongoing detention of these five deputies is not a correct decision in terms of both politics and the legal order. With reference to an emotional and political conception, the court blocked the release of the elected deputies and thus imprisoned the freewill of 80 thousand voters whose feelings, thoughts and freewill were disrespected. The ongoing detention of the deputies violates the law and the present legal order.
The court's decision brings nothing but provocation and making people take the streets.
The non execution of law brings unlawfulness, war, anarchy and terror.
If they defend law, its requirements must be fulfilled to enable a brotherhood and together-living. I am still hopeful about the release of detained deputies.
Translation: Berna Ozgencil
