CHP officially declares support for parliamentary speaker’s formula for jailed deputies

ANKARA

A MHP deputy speaks at Parliament with a poster of Engin Alan. DHA Photo

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) officially notified the Parliament Speaker’s Office on May 16 that they support a formula proposed by parliamentary speaker Cemil Çiçek for the release of a jailed lawmaker from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

In a letter sent by the party’s deputy parliamentary group chair, Akif Hamzaçebi, the CHP said they reviewed the proposal, which they received on May 7, and eventually agreed upon it.

On May 7, Çiçek proposed a legal amendment outlining a delay in the execution of a lawmaker’s criminal sentence until the end of the current Parliament’s mandate, in a bid to release jailed MHP deputy Engin Alan.

Alan, who was convicted to 28 years in prison in the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup case trial and whose sentence was approved by the Supreme Court of Appeals in October, is still behind bars, despite other lawmakers whose sentences have not been finalized being previously released after intervention from the Constitutional Court.

Yet, only a day after Çiçek made his proposal public, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) expressed skepticism over the formula on May 8 on the grounds that it would be unconstitutional.