{"id":45334,"date":"2013-12-10T12:43:22","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T10:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/?p=45334"},"modified":"2013-12-10T12:43:22","modified_gmt":"2013-12-10T10:43:22","slug":"journalist-and-chp-mp-mustafa-balbay-free-after-4-years-277-days-in-jail-turkey-breaking-news-45334","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/journalist-and-chp-mp-mustafa-balbay-free-after-4-years-277-days-in-jail-turkey-breaking-news-45334\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalist and CHP MP Mustafa Balbay free after 4 years, 277 days in jail \/ Turkey Breaking News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Journalist-MP-Mustafa-Balbay-Free\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Mustafa Balbay he was 5 year in prison because of \u00a0just opposition to the government.<\/h1>\n

An Istanbul court ruled on Dec. 9 for the release of jailed deputy and journalist Mustafa Balbay, following a Constitutional Court ruling that his lengthy imprisonment amounted to a \u201cviolation of the law\u201d and a \u201cviolation of his right to be elected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI sincerely hope that this process will be a fresh start,\u201d the journalist and Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) MP Balbay said immediately after leaving Ankara’s Sincan Prison.<\/p>\n

Mustafa\u00a0Balbay, 53, who\u00a0was elected to Parliament in the 2011 general elections for the CHP,\u00a0said he would probably take his parliamentary oath Dec. 10, but wanted more than anything else to take the pledge in front of the public.<\/p>\n

Supporters of Balbay, the Association of Cumhuriyet Readers (CUMOK), CHP lawmakers, and party officials, who had gathered in front of Sincan Prison, celebrated the release by dancing the traditional halay. Slogans were chanted such as \u201cMustafa Balbay is our honor,\u201d \u201cThe time will come and the AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party] will give account to the people,\u201d \u201cWe are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal,\u201d and \u201cSincan will be the prison of fascism.\u201d<\/p>\n

After leaving prison, Balbay traveled to his house in Ankara\u2019s Y\u00fcz\u00fcnc\u00fcy\u0131l district, followed by a long convoy of supporters. His neighbors also welcomed him with applause and embraced him, and he was barely able to reach his home because of the size of the crowd and the huge media attention that had gathered.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor in the Ergenekon coup plot case, in which he was sentenced to 34 years and eight months in prison pending appeal, demanded the court release him in the wake of the top court ruling.<\/p>\n

His lawyers petitioned the court for their client\u2019s release following the top court ruling on Dec. 6, but the court delayed making its decision until Dec. 9.<\/p>\n

The Constitutional Court ruled Dec. 4 that the long imprisonment of the CHP\u00a0deputy amounted to a \u201cviolation of rights.\u201d\u00a0The Court added that it had completed the draft of the reasoned decision concerning the individual applications of CHP\u00a0deputies Mustafa Balbay and Mehmet Haberal, and was expected to send it to the Istanbul court on the afternoon of Dec. 10.<\/p>\n

Balbay had earlier petitioned the Constitutional Court, claiming that his right to a fair trial had been violated, that his long imprisonment amounted to a violation of his rights, and that he had not been able to use his legislative immunity due to his detention.<\/p>\n

His lawyers said in their petition that because the Constitutional Court had ruled that Balbay\u2019s rights to be elected were violated, the lower court should release him so that he could exercise his right to hold office.\u00a0However, despite releasing him, the Court also barred Balbay from traveling abroad.<\/p>\n

Supporters of Balbay, CHP\u00a0lawmakers and party officials gathered in front of Ankara\u2019s Sincan Prison from early on Dec. 9, despite the cold, in anticipation of his release. Hopes grew at noon when it was heard that the prosecutor in the Ergenekon case \u2013 under which Balbay was imprisoned \u2013 recommended that he be released.<\/p>\n

CHP leader Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu, who talked to Balbay on the phone and is expected to meet with him tomorrow, responded to the news with a brief public note, which said, \u201cWelcome Balbay, we have missed you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Court\u2019s much-anticipated decision has been also welcomed with by senior government representatives.<\/p>\n

Balbay was first detained at his house in Ankara\u00a0July 1, 2008, as a part of the wide-ranging Ergenekon investigation. After questioning and a search of his home, he was released on July 5, but his computer was seized. However, he was taken into custody once again on March 5, 2009 and arrested the next day.<\/p>\n

He is one of the 275 suspects in the case, which is a combination of a number of separate filings over the so-called Ergenekon gang that allegedly aimed to topple the government.<\/p>\n

Balbay, who has been kept in a cell since Feb. 28, 2011, was elected as member of Parliament from the CHP\u00a0in the June 12 general elections in the same year.<\/p>\n

The basic evidence about Balbay\u2019s alleged links with the gang is a softcopy diary reportedly found on his computer, which allegedly showed evidence that he was involved in a\u00a0military coup plan between 2000 and 2005, along with the late \u0130lhan Sel\u00e7uk, the former chief columnist of Cumhuriyet, and a number of other journalists and high-ranking soldiers.<\/p>\n

Balbay demanded to be released immediately after being elected in June 2011, but the court refused the request.<\/p>\n

He was eventually sentenced to 34 years and eight months in prison on charges of \u201cattempting to overthrow the government by force and violence\u201d and \u201cunlawfully obtaining documents concerning government security\u201d on Aug. 5.<\/p>\nError, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 14)<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mustafa Balbay he was 5 year in prison because of just opposition to the government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":702,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,63,1,118,101,171,174,194,173,188],"tags":[77166,62149,62155,62151,62148,62150,37448,62152,62154,77182,16663],"class_list":["post-45334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-daily","category-general","category-hot","category-politics","category-turkey","category-turkey-daily","category-turkey-general","category-turkey-headlines","category-turkey-politics","tag-breaking-news","tag-chp-mp-mustafa-balbay","tag-journalist-balbay-free","tag-journalist-free-turkey","tag-journalist-jail-turkey","tag-journalist-mustafa-balbay","tag-mustafa-balbay","tag-mustafa-balbay-free","tag-mustafa-balbay-opposition-government","tag-turkey","tag-turkey-democracy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/702"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45334\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}