Turkish lawmaker Enis Berberoğlu to be retried over espionage conviction

An appeals court quashed the conviction handed to People's Republican Party (CHP) MP Enis Berberoğlu, and ordered a new trial
Monday, 09 October 2017 19:36

A Turkish court on Monday has overturned the conviction of an opposition legislator from parliamentary main opposition party imprisoned for allegedly exposing state secrets. 

The appeals court quashed the conviction handed to People's Republican Party (CHP) MP Enis Berberoğlu, and ordered a new trial. Berberoğlu will remain in jail for now.

He was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year for allegedly leaking footage to an opposition newspaper suggesting Turkish government smuggled arms to Islamist terrorist in Syria. He was convicted of revealing state secrets and espionage.

In July, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu led a 450-kilometer (280-mile) "justice march" from Ankara to the prison where Berberoğlu was being held, to protest the government's crackdown following last year's failed coup.