CHP MP Enis Berberoğlu’s trial postponed to Feb 16

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

An Istanbul court on Jan. 24 postponed the trial of jailed main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Enis Berberoğlu to Feb. 16.

The postponement demand came from Berberoğlu’s lawyers after the original panel of judges was changed.

The lawyers said they wanted to the investigation to be extended as there were issues missing in the current file, but wanted to convey this request to the original panel of judges. The court board then accepted the lawyers’ request, while also ruling that Berberoğlu joins the next hearing again via the voice and video informatics system (SEGBİS) from prison, as was the case on Jan. 24 and the prior hearing on Jan. 16, when Berberoğlu refused to wear handcuffs while being escorted to court.

Berberoğlu, currently behind bars in Istanbul’s Maltepe Prison for allegedly “leaking state secrets,” was sentenced to 25 years in prison on June 14, 2017. Berberoğlu, the first CHP lawmaker to be given prison time, is accused of providing daily Cumhuriyet with a video purporting to show National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks sending weapons to Syria.

Meanwhile, Berberoğlu thanked the Progressive Journalists Association (“Çağdaş Gazeteciler Derneği” in Turkish) for awarding him “Best Politician of the Year” in the press category in the Uğur Mumcu Commemoration Awards, held every year to honor the slain prominent journalist Uğur Mumcu.

“I commemorate my brother, the honorable Uğur Mumcu, who has never bowed down to anyone and with whom I have worked in the same office for years side by side. We could not get used to his absence,” he said in a letter of gratitude for the late journalist.

“I lend a hand to my jailed journalist colleagues and continue to put efforts into rights and justice. I should be able to contribute to treating a divided society through politics. I hope for the immediate restoration of justice and freedom,” the letter said.

Berberoğlu is a former journalist, who started his career at business daily Dünya in 1981. In his long journalism career, Berberoğlu also worked for Cumhuriyet, CNN Türk and Radikal. He also served as daily Hürriyet’s editor-in-chief from 2009 to 2014.