Court releases arrested former HDP lawmaker

DİYARBAKIR

A Turkish court on June 8 ruled in favor of releasing former opposition lawmaker Leyla Güven from prison. 

Güven, who was stripped of her legislative immunity and arrested last week, had been sentenced to six years and three months for being a member of an "armed terror organization."

The provincial court accepted an application by Güven's lawyers for the time she already spent in prison in a previous arrest to be deducted from her sentence, releasing her on probation.

Guven and two other former lawmakers- Enis Berberoğlu and Musa Farisoğulları- who were sent to prison early on June 5, a day after parliament revoked their seats and legislative immunity.

Berberoğlu is from the main opposition Republican People's Party and Güven and Farisoğulları from the Peoples' Democratic Party.

The final judgments of the judicial proceedings against Berberoğlu, Güven and Farisoğulları were read out in the parliament on June 4.

Farisoğulları, from the southeastern Diyarbakır province, had received a nine-year sentence, also for "being a member of an armed terror group."

Berberoğlu, an Istanbul lawmaker, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison for leaking state secrets to a newspaper in June 2017. The sentence was later affirmed by an appeals court. But after his arrest, Berberoğlu was released from prison as well due to coronavirus measures.