Çiçek under pressure on jailed MPs

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmakers met with Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek yesterday in a bid to convince him to ensure the eight jailed recently-elected deputies are brought to Parliament to take their oaths.
The meeting between Çiçek and the CHP’s Ömer Süha Aldan and Ali Rıza Öztürk, which lasted 40 minutes, followed the main opposition’s announcement last week that it was stepping up efforts to secure the release of the jailed deputies.
The CHP wants Çiçek to contact prosecutors in Istanbul and Diyarbakır and arrange a procedure under which the lawmakers will be allowed to come to Parliament to be sworn in, even if their detention continues.
Eight people awaiting trial in jail were elected to Parliament in the June elections, two of whom were from CHP, one from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and five from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). Overriding precedents, the courts refused to release them on grounds they may flee or destroy evidence. The CHP has also submitted to Parliament a draft bill aimed at curbing the much criticized pre-trial detentions that would pave the way for the release of the lawmakers.