I have been isolated for a year: Jailed CHP deputy Berberoğlu

ISTANBUL

The jailed Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Enis Berberoğlu has complained of isolation in his prison cell to Turkish Press Council head Pınar Türenç, when the latter visited him in Istanbul’s Maltepe Prison.

“I have been by myself for approximately a year in my cell. It is not possible to talk and have a brief chat with anyone. I could not even take a stroll with another inmate,” he told Türenç.

Berberoğlu is a former journalist who was initially sentenced to 25 years in jail and put in prison on June 14, 2017 on charges of “helping a terrorist organization,” “espionage” and “leaking secret state documents.”

In February, an appeals court ruled there was no evidence supporting charges of “espionage” and “helping a terrorist organization.” It therefore reduced the 25-year sentence while still sentencing the CHP deputy to five years and 10 months in jail for making secret government documents public.

Berberoğlu, the first CHP lawmaker to be given prison time, is accused of providing daily Cumhuriyet with a video purporting to show National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks sending weapons to Syria.

“How can I be a spy? It is so clear the claims against me are unfounded … I hope for a [positive] decision to come from the Constitutional Court, to which I have applied [for an appeal]. A situation that does not suit any article of law is being experienced right now. I have hope,” Berberoğlu has told Türenç, adding that he spends his days writing a book named “By myself in the cell” while in prison.