ANKARA - The court has stated that it is not authorized to make a decision on the MPs' dismissal.

 

The Constitutional Court has rejected an application for the cancellation of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputies' dismissal.

 

Leyla Güven and Musa Farisoğulları, along with main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Enis Berberoğlu, were stripped of MP status on June 4. The HDP applied to the top court against its MPs' dismissal on June 10. 

 

Examining the application, the court concluded that it wasn't authorized to make a decision and rejected the application in a unanimous vote.

 

The justified decision is expected to be released in the following days.

 

BACKGROUND

 

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Enis Berberoğlu and HDP Hakkari and Diyarbakır MPs Leyla Güven and Musa Farisoğulları were stripped of their MP status on June 4 on the ground that there were finalized court rulings against them.

 

While all three were arrested on the same day, CHP's Berberoğlu has been released and sent home as part of coronavirus measures. Leyla Güven was also released five days after her arrest on June 9.

 

Put on trial with Can Dündar, the former Editor-in-Chief of daily Cumhuriyet, for giving him the footage of National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks allegedly carrying weapons to Syria, Enis Berberoğlu has been sentenced to 5 years, 10 months for "disclosing information that needs to be kept confidential for the security of the state or domestic or international interests for purposes of political and military espionage."

 

While Diyarbakır 2nd Heavy Penal Court has sentenced Musa Farisoğulları to 9 years in prison for "membership of an armed terrorist organization", Leyla Güven has also been sentenced to 6 years, 3 months in prison on the same charge and by the same court.

 

The prison sentences of Berberoğlu, Farisoğulları and Güven have been upheld by the 16th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation.