Istanbul prosecutor appeals, demands harsher verdict for CHP MP Berberoğlu

ISTANBUL

An Istanbul prosecutor on Feb. 22 submitted an appeal against the jail sentence handed to main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Enis Berberoğlu, saying he should have been found guilty on espionage charges rather than charges of leaking classified material.

The move comes after Berberoğlu was found guilty of “leaking classified information” on Feb. 13 and sentenced to five years and 10 months in jail.

On Feb. 22, the prosecutor in the case submitted an appeal to the Istanbul Regional Courts of Justice to be handed to the Court of Cassation, stating that Berberoğlu should have been sentenced on charges of “revealing classified information … purpose of political or military spying.”

The prosecutor demanded the reversal of the original verdict in Berberoğlu’s case, saying he should receive a heavier sentence on “espionage” charges.

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.”

Upon his appeal, the Istanbul Regional Courts of Justice, acting as a court of appeal in relation to the previous ruling, decided that there was no evidence supporting the 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 is accused of leaking footage purporting to show Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks sending weapons to Syrian rebels to former daily Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar.