And 599 MPs out of 600 members of the Turkish parliament were sworn in on Friday, meaning Atalay was the only absentee.
Lawyer Can Atalay was elected as the representative of the Turkish Workers’ Party in Hatay in the May 14 elections, although he is serving an 18-year prison sentence after his arrest on April 25, 2022.
Atalay is found guilty of “helping to attempt to overthrow the government” under Article 312 of the Penal Code, during his participation in the Gezi Park protests in 2022. The Court of Appeal upheld the judgment, but the Court of Cassation has yet to rule on it, and so there was no final ruling preventing it from running.
The Turkish Workers’ Party was able to win 3 more seats in the Istanbul elections, won by party leader Erkan Bash in the second constituency, Ahmed Chek, who was a candidate in the second constituency, and the candidate in the first constituency, Sera Kadigil.
demand his release
Atalay is awaiting the outcome of a request filed by his lawyers with the Court of Cassation for his release.
The Turkish Workers’ Party said in a statement after being sworn in: “Our Hatay MP, Can Atalay, is being illegally detained, despite a swearing-in ceremony at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. We demand his immediate release.
Party leader Erkan Bash also said that “Only Can Atalay was prevented from attending the swearing-in at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and we demand that his freedom not be hampered.”
The legal situation of Article 83
The lawyers based their request for release on a constitutional article which prohibits the execution of a penal condemnation against a deputy during his mandate. Article 83 of the Constitution relating to parliamentary immunity stipulates: “The execution of a criminal judgment against a member of Parliament, either before or after his election, is deferred until the end of his mandate, and the statute of limitations cannot be applied during his membership period.
Representatives of the Republican People’s Party, the largest opposition party and led by the losing presidential candidate in the recent elections, Kamal Kilicdaroglu, accepted Atalay’s request for release.
Mustafa Sarigul, party MP in Erzincan, said at a press conference: “Parliament is the heart of democracy, and lawyer Can Atalay, who was elected as a Member of Parliament by popular vote, was to be present . As representatives of the nation, it is our duty to protect the reputation of Parliament”, stressing that “an elected MP should not be in prison, but in Parliament”.
Who is Jean Atalay?
• He has worked as a lawyer for 20 years. • Specialized in the defense cases of the families of the miners who died in Suma, in the explosion which occurred in Hendik and in the train disaster in Çorlu. • Atalay has been known as a socialist since his school days. • He has worked as a defender of rights in many social issues, and a member of the board of directors of the Association for Social Rights, he has been involved in many cases for the defense of journalists, including the crisis of the Cumhuriyet newspaper. • He worked as one of the organizers of the campaign against the demolition of the Emek Cinema • He was arrested after the protest events in Gezi Park against the justice and development of the Hezbollah government.
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