CHP bids to get jailed MHP deputy Engin Alan released
The main opposition Republican Peopleâs Party (CHP) has announced that it will present a proposal to have an additional article included in the currently-debated judicial package to secure the release of a jailed lawmaker from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
The CHP and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have already agreed on the content of the proposal, CHP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Akif Hamzaçebi told reporters on May 29, adding that the proposal could not pass into law due to the objection of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan.
MHP deputy Engin 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 the fact that other lawmakers whose sentences had not been finalized were previously released after an intervention from the Constitutional Court. Unlike for Alan, the Courtâs processes for the other deputiesâ convictions have still yet to be finalized.
Hamzaçebi said the CHPâs proposal had the same content as a legal amendment drafted by Parliament Speaker Cemil Ãiçek in early May. The amendment outlined a delay in the execution of a lawmakerâs criminal sentence until the end of the current Parliamentâs mandate, in a bid to release Alan.
The CHP believes that each elected deputy shall be present at the Parliament, Hamzaçebi added. âIt doesnât matter which party this deputy is a member of. I donât think that concerns such as âOthers will also get use of this,â are appropriate. What matters is human freedom,â he said.
Hamzaçebi was apparently...
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