A court in Istanbul sentenced Muharrem İnce, who established the Homeland Party (MP) in May, to five months in prison for hindering a public servant on duty, the former deputy announced on Twitter on Wednesday.
During his term as main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) deputy chairman for its parliamentary group, İnce had argued with a gendarmerie officer during a trial in the Ergenekon case.
İnce’s parliamentary immunity had been lifted in 2016 to allow for a case against him to go forward. The prosecutor called for three years in prison for the opposition politician at the time.
“Today I received a five month prison sentence for resisting unlawful practices in the conspiracy trials in Silivri,” İnce said in a tweet.
İnce said the Ergenekon case was a conspiracy organised by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its former ally, the Gülen movement.
One of Turkey’s most significant political cases, the Ergenekon trials saw top military personnel, politicians, journalists and civil society figures accused of forming a clandestine terrorist organisation. All suspects were acquitted in 2019.
“I was sentenced to prison for resisting the decisions of the FETÖist chairman of the court in the Ergenekon trial in Silivri,” İnce said in another tweet, using the name Turkey uses for the followers of Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen, whose long alliance with the AKP ended after the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016.
Ahval