Top court returns indictment aimed to ban HDP

ANKARA

The Constitutional Court on March 31 returned the indictment, which aimed to ban the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) due to the lack of procedure in the file.

The first review will be made after the Supreme Court Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office completes the deficiencies and submits the indictment to the Constitutional Court.

On March 17, the Supreme Court Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit against HDP for its closure on the grounds that it has links with “terror acts.” The 609-page indictment said the permanent closure of the HDP was a legal obligation for the indivisible integrity of the Turkish state, and peace and security of the nation. It said the party should also be fully deprived of the treasury grants.

Meanwhile, the General Assembly of the Constitutional Court rejected an application made to annul a decision that revoked the parliamentary membership of the HDP former lawmaker Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu.

In a unanimous summary judgment, the Constitutional Court turned back the effort to restore the parliamentary seat of Gergerlioğlu, whose seat was revoked on March 17 due to his conviction on terrorism-related charges.

HDP Istanbul Deputy Erol Katırcıoğlu had applied to the Constitutional Court after Gergerlioğlu’s parliamentary seat was stripped.

The second paragraph of Article 84 of the constitution, which regulates the “loss of parliamentary membership due to final conviction or restriction,” does not allow to apply to the Constitutional Court. For this reason, the court rejected the case of Gergerlioğlu due to a “lack of authorization.”

Gergerlioğlu was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to two years and six months in prison for “spreading terrorist propaganda” after he retweeted a 2016 news article about a call for peace by the illegal PKK group.

On Feb. 19, the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals, also called the Court of Cassation, upheld Gergerlioğlu’s sentence for spreading propaganda for the PKK.