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Demonstrators in Izmir demand the release of Can Atalay
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Yusuf Belek / IMAGO / ZUMA Wire
The imprisoned Turkish human rights lawyer Can Atalay has been stripped of his mandate in parliament - and with it his immunity. The basis is a legally binding judgment. The decision was read out in parliament in Ankara in Atalay's absence. Opposition MPs repeatedly interrupted the reading with boos and held up signs reading “Freedom for Can Atalay.” Atalay's workers' party TIP only has three seats left in parliament.
The human rights activist's case had plunged the Turkish justice system into a crisis. Atalay was sentenced to 18 years in prison and imprisoned in April 2022 in connection with the anti-government Gezi protests of 2013 on charges of aiding and abetting an attempted coup. Nevertheless, he was elected as an MP in the May 2023 general election. This was possible because the highest appeals court had not yet confirmed the judgment at that time, meaning it was not yet legally binding. According to his lawyer, Atalay should therefore have been released.
In the meantime, the Turkish Constitutional Court ruled twice within a few months that Atalay's imprisonment impermissibly restricted his right to stand for election. However, the appeal court refused release in both cases on the grounds that the Constitutional Court's ruling was unconstitutional. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a similar statement and discussed constitutional reform to solve this judicial crisis. However, he has not yet presented any concrete proposals.
Atalay was found guilty in 2022, along with Turkish human rights activist Osman Kavala and six other defendants, of attempting a coup in 2013 by organizing nationwide protests. The Gezi protests of 2013 were also specifically directed against the then Prime Minister and current President Erdoğan. The defendants had denied the allegations.
The verdict against Atalay in the so-called Gezi trial is now legally binding. The European Court of Human Rights ruled it unlawful. Following a heated debate in the plenary session on Tuesday, Erkan Bas, chairman of Atalay's TIP, criticized the appeal court's decisions as unconstitutional. The same applies to the lifting of the immunity of the opposition politician.
lpz/dpa/Reuters