Turkey: Court releases arrested former lawmaker

By Aziz Aslan

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) - A Turkish court on Tuesday ruled in favor of releasing former opposition lawmaker Leyla Guven from prison.

Guven, who was stripped of her legislative immunity and arrested last week, had been sentenced to six years and three months for being a member of an "armed terror organization."

The provincial court accepted an application by Guven's lawyers for the time she already spent in prison in a previous arrest to be deducted from her sentence, releasing her on probation.

Guven and two other former lawmakers -- Enis Berberoglu and Musa Farisogullari -- who were sent to prison early last Friday, a day after parliament revoked their seats and legislative immunity.

Berberoglu is from the main opposition Republican People's Party and Guven and Farisogullari from the Peoples' Democratic Party.

The final judgements of the judicial proceedings against Berberoglu, Guven and Farisogullari were read out in the parliament on Thursday.

Farisogullari, from the southeastern Diyarbakir province, had received a nine-year sentence, also for "being a member of an armed terror group."

Berberoglu, an Istanbul lawmaker, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison for leaking state secrets to a newspaper in June 2017. The sentence was later affirmed by an appeals court.

*Writing by Havva Kara Aydin