CHP’s Enis Berberoğlu sentenced to 5 years and 10 months’ imprisonment

The trial against Can Dündar and Erdem Gül along with CHP MP Enis Berberoğlu over the publishing of images of the halting of the intelligence agency trucks has reached the ruling stage. The ruling hearing is being held at Penal Chamber No 2 of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice.
 
The trial in which our Ankara Representative Erdem Gül and our former Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar stand charged in relation to the report about the intelligence agency trucks published in our newspaper, along with CHP MP Enis Berberoğlu, who has been placed in detention pending the same trial having been sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment for disclosing documents that require to remain confidential, had been adjourned due to the presiding judge and hearing prosecutor being on leave. A delegation headed by CHP Istanbul Province Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu came to the judicial complex to monitor the trial at which the ruling is expected to be announced.
 
“I HOPE THE YOUNG GENERATION OF MEDIA WORKERS WILL DRAW THE LESSON”
 
Berberoğlu called out to his colleagues in a letter he sent prior to the hearing: “We talk of nothing but justice and freedoms. But, you know, we feel their absence most in prison. This very issue, as well as the organisational and self-regulatory endeavours in the media, look very different and are better understood when observed from here. Unfortunately, the Council, just like the Journalists Association and union, were unable to afford the necessary and adequate support. And I am suffering the consequences in an excessively harsh manner of this serious neglect as a retired journalist and politician who has been condemned to victimhood through headlines. I hope the young generation of media workers will draw the lesson from the mistakes of the past.”
 
CHP MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT MAKE STATEMENT IN FRONT OF APPEAL COURT
 
Before the hearing, a group including the CHP’s Deputy General Chair and Çanakkale MP Muharrem Erkek, its Istanbul MPs Gamze İlgezdi, Barış Yarkadaş and Onursal Adıgüzel and CHP Istanbul Province Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu made a press statement.
 
“THE MOST PERFECT JUSTICE RESIDES IN CONSCIENCES”
 
Muharrem Erkek stressed that Berberoğlu was one of Turkey’s most important journalists and a member of parliament. Erkek commented, “Above all else, an innocent person is in jail. He has been detained for nine months. We, jurists and all of us are very familiar with the contents of the file. A person being in jail and being deprived of his liberty without clearly compelling evidence visits irreparable injustice not just on him, but on his family and society. There is no crime in this case. There is no state secret. There is no confidential information or file. There is no espionage in this case. In fact, the appeal court stressed in particular in its reversal judgment that the elements of the offence had not been constituted. However, our MP Enis Berberoğlu is still in jail and still in detention. The most perfect justice resides in consciences. Until Enis Berberoğlu is free and has been released, justice will not be registered in society’s conscience. We today await an ending of this injustice and the immediate release of our MP Enis Berberoğlu. Turkey’s most important problem is justice. The safeguard of democracy, freedom, rights and everything is an independent and impartial judiciary. It is the law. We must never lose sight of this.”
 
STATEMENT FROM KAFTANCIOĞLU
 
CHP Istanbul Province Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu, in turn, said, “We have come together for the court case of our MP Enis Berberoğlu, who has been in detention and held in captivity for nine months in an unjust and unlawful manner. Even though all the charges against him have been rebutted and he has even been declared innocent by courts that have passed ruling, his detention is still continuing and, unfortunately, even though all Turkey knows the truth of which it is aware, we are undergoing a legal travesty conducted in a closed manner with nobody able to enter thanks to the confidentiality order.”
 
RULING ANNOUNCED
 
The sentence of five years and ten months’ imprisonment was passed and continuation of detention ordered in the trial in which CHP Istanbul MP Enis Berberoğlu stands charged before the Appeal Court of passing on images of the intelligence agency trucks being halted to Can Dündar for them to be published. The third session was held of the trial in which CHP Istanbul MP Enis Berberoğlu stands charged before the Appeal Court of passing on images of the intelligence agency trucks being halted to Can Dündar for them to be published.
 
BERBEROĞLU CONNECTED VIA VIDEO LINK
 
With detained defendant Enis Berberoğlu connected via video link to the hearing being held in camera at Penal Chamber No 2 of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice, his lawyers Murat Ergün, Yiğit Acar and Zeynel Öztürk, wife Oya Berberoğlu and daughter Dilara Berberoğlu were present in the courtroom. The hearing was also attended by the intelligence agency’s lawyers Fuat Midas and Ümit Ulvi Canik and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s lawyers Sara Kanalka and Hatice Özay.
 
TWENTY-FIVE YEAR PRISON SENTENCE RULING QUASHED
 
Following the three-and-a-half-hour hearing, Penal Chamber No 2 announced its ruling. In its ruling, the chamber quashed the twenty-five-year prison sentence handed down to the defendant Enis Berberoğlu for the offence of “disclosing for espionage purposes the state’s information that required to remain confidential” by Istanbul Serious Crime Court No 14.
 
The court, stating that the defendant Enis Berberoğlu’s act constituted the offence of “disclosing the state’s information that required to remain confidential in view of its security or domestic or foreign political interests,” and taking into consideration the defendant having disclosed the information despite his level of education and knowledge, position and ability to foresee the consequences that would entail from publishing the contents of the images and information involved in the crime and the degree of intent in the process, sentenced the defendant Berberoğlu to seven years’ imprisonment. Subsequently, the court, taking account of the defendant’s past, clean criminal record and the impact on his future, applied a reduction in the sentence, handed down a jail term of five years and ten months and ordered the continuation of detention.
 
The chamber also entered into the record in its ruling that, since the act the defendant committed was not an offence of terrorism or one committed for terrorist purposes, no increase in the sentence was warranted. Following the ruling Enis Berberoğlu, linked to the hearing by video, said, “We started with twenty-five years and have fallen as far as five. Keep your spirits up, friends.”
 
THE BACKGROUND
 
Berberoğlu was detained on 14 June charged with supplying images of the intelligence agency trucks to former Cumhuriyet newspaper Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar.
 
Following Berberoğlu’s lawyers’ application to the appeal court on 18 July for reversal of the sentence, the court quashed the custodial sentence. With the local court not complying with the ruling, the case was remitted to the appeal court. The appeal court then ruled that Berberoğlu be held in pretrial detention.
 
OYA BERBEROĞLU ASSESSES THE RULING
 
Following the handing down of a five year and ten months’ prison sentence to CHP MP Enis Berberoğlu, Berberoğlu's lawyer, parliamentarians and his wife Oya Berberoğlu made a statement. His wife Oya Berberoğlu said, “I trust justice and expect Enis to be released in the shortest possible time.” Berberoğlu's lawyer Murat Ergün, in turn, stated, “His non-release is a huge problem for us. We will initially apply to Penal Chamber No 3 for release. The case will then go to the Court of Cassation.”
 
“I WISH TO STRESS THAT THE CHARGES OF ESPIONAGE HAVE BEEN REBUTTED”
 
Assessing the ruling, CHP Deputy General Chair Muharrem Erkek noted that they drew similarities between this trial and the famous historical trial of Captain Dreyfus. Erkek said, “Captain Dreyfus, too, was tried in a most unjust manner on grave insinuations. But, in the end the truth came out and he was exonerated. Enis Berberoğlu is innocent. Enis Berberoğlu is one of the most important journalists our country has produced. And he is currently a member of parliament. More important than everything he is an innocent person. I particularly wish to stress that, by means of this ruling, the initial grave charges, especially the charge of espionage, have been rebutted. Our conviction that in the end, at the conclusion of these proceedings, Enis Berberoğlu will be acquitted is full. Despite our knowledge of the severe pressure on the judiciary, I say in spite of everything that we must trust in justice until the end and continue the legal fight to the end.”
 
STATEMENT FROM HIS LAWYER
 
Berberoğlu's lawyer Murat Ergün, in turn, said, “The court has fully rejected the most unacceptable, the most hurtfully unconscionable assertions by the prosecution against Enis Berberoğlu. This is item number one. What did the prosecution say? Enis Berberoğlu engaged in espionage and Enis Berberoğlu aided a terrorist organisation; he acted in line with its interests. Today, the Regional Court of Justice dismissed two charges. This is important for us. We can thus say that, even if this ruling is not a ruling that fully assuages consciences, complies with justice and gives us satisfaction, it is the best of a bad job. What should it have been? It should have served the cause of justice. What is warranted is undoubtedly Enis Berberoğlu's acquittal. Now, as the ruling and the contents of the file in the case have become public, you will see from here on that Enis Berberoğlu's innocence has become as clear as the light of day in the trial proceedings. It has risen as the sun rises. But, unfortunately, the court did not issue an acquittal ruling. And, naturally enough, it could not order release, either. And included among the grounds for denying release was his being tried in another case, but he is on pretrial release in that case. So, we can make the following connection: actually, everything has come into the open. Enis Berberoğlu did not commit the crime of which he is accused. He has been exonerated of the aspersions cast against him, especially the most disturbing charges that we have rejected the most such as those against the people-nation, espionage and serving interests compatible with a terrorist organisation. His non-release is a huge problem for us. We will initially apply to Penal Chamber No 3 for release. The case will then go to the Court of Cassation. If we cannot attain a result here, our applications to the Court of Cassation for release will continue.”
 
Ergün continued his statement as follows: “However, I wish to use this opportunity to announce vigorously via you to the Constitutional Court that it now needs to take up our case immediately. The one on Enis Berberoğlu is a ruling that has been passed in disregard of a previous ruling issued by the Constitutional Court. That is, it is a ruling issued in defiance the Constitutional Court. It has disregarded the rights violation ruling that the Constitutional Court previously passed over the Erdem Gül - Can Dündar case. It is thus impossible to comprehend the Constitutional Court ignoring this act. It cannot ignore a violation of constitutional rights. We demanded his release today.”
 
To a journalist’s question, “You are going to object, but how long will he stay in prison as things stand?” Ergün replied, “He should come out today. On objection, he should come out today.”
 
“THERE IS BITTERSWEET JOY”
 
Oya Berberoğlu said in the statement she made, “There is bittersweet joy. But, I think it will become full before long. I expect Enis to be released in the shortest possible time. Our lawyer has put it best: it was truly hurtfully unconscionable. The charges raised against Enis of espionage and aiding terrorist organisations have been rebutted and have ended. There was actually no such thing. We are glad about that. At least this moral burden has been removed from us. I trust justice and expect Enis to be released in the shortest possible time.”