ANKARA, Turkey, — The Constitutional Court of Turkey rejected the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Bloc deputy Hatip Dicle’s appeal of the Supreme Election Board’s (YSK) ban, today.
The YSK stripped Dicle of his seat in Parliament, unanimously, on June 21. The top court based on the deficiency of jurisdiction in the case.
The top court pointed to Article 79, which says the decisions of the YSK are not open to judicial review.
Hatip Dicle’s lawyers appealed the YSK’s decision at the top court based on a constitutional provision which says no authority other than Parliament can strip a deputy of his or her mandate.
The Ankara 11th High Criminal convicted Dicle of “producing propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in 2009 and the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the decision in March of this year. The court sentenced Dicle to one year, eight months in prison on terrorism charges.
Dicle is also currently on trial in the 6th Diyarbakir High Criminal Court as a suspect in a separate investigation into the PKK’s alleged secret urban branch, the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK). He was detained in December 2009 as part of the KCK trial and has been in custody ever since.
The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which endorsed Dicle in the elections, recently announced that they would not take their seats in Parliament as long as Dicle and other five jailed deputies remain in prison.