Turkish Constitutional Court rejects request to cancel bill lifting MPs’ immunities

The Constitutional Court of Turkey has rejected a request to cancel a recent legal amendment to lift the parliamentary immunity of deputies, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Lawmakers from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) applied to the Constitutional Court on May 26 to annul a controversial constitutional amendment that scraps immunities of many MPs on the grounds that it violates fundamental aspects of the charter. 

The Turkish Parliament approved the amendment to lift the immunity of 148 MPs with legal cases pending on May 20.