Turkish Decision to Lift Parliamentary Immunity
21:44 20.05.2016
Senior EU officials are concerned by Turkish parliament's decision to allow the lifting of parliamentary immunity of a large number of lawmakers, the EU foreign office said in a statement on Friday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – A total of 376 lawmakers in the 550-seat Turkish legislature voted on Friday to pass a bill that seeks to make it easier to strip members of the parliament of immunity. Opposition argued this would allow the government to prosecute dissidents on invented terror-related charges.
"Immunity must apply to all on a non-discriminatory basis and decisions on lifting immunity must be based on the merits of each specific case, according to transparent criteria and not subject to any political considerations," the statement read.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini and Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn stressed that the bill posed a risk to the freedom of expression in the Turkish parliament.
At the moment, 138 lawmakers, most of them from two opposition parties, are awaiting a decision on whether they should be stripped of parliamentary immunity.
© Sputnik
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