MHP completes preparation of amnesty draft bill

ANKARA

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has completed the preparation of a draft bill granting amnesty to convicts, which was one of the election manifestos of the party prior to the June 24 snap elections.

The MHP’s eight-article amnesty draft bill excludes prisoners convicted on charges of membership to a terror organization, such as the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ). The bill also excludes granting amnesty to inmates convicted over charges of child abuse and femicide, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Aug. 26.

The MHP plans to submit the draft bill to the parliament for debate once the new legislative year of the parliament begins on Oct. 1.

The draft bill’s general framework was outlined by the MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli and put down on paper by a committee consisting of the party’s legal experts, under the guidance of MHP Vice Chair Feti Yıldız, the agency said.

Yıldız told the agency their committee had analyzed a total of 52 amnesties granted to prisoners in the history of the Turkish Republic so far in order to prepare the relevant draft bill.

“As the committee, we have all together analyzed these amnesties and have reduced sentences along with the positive and negative affects they have left on society. For example, following the 1939 Erzincan earthquake [which struck Turkey with a moment magnitude of 7.8], an amnesty was issued for prisoners who helped [quake victims],” he said.

“In the draft bill we have prepared, there are reductions, amnesties and suspensions of sentences. Of course, while we consider the families of inmates, we also have to consider those who have been harmed and the victims of relevant crimes,” Yıldız said, adding it was not their intention to pardon people “who took on crime as a profession.”