ISTANBUL — Pro-Kurdish lawmaker Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu was released from prison Tuesday. Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled on July 1 that his rights were violated in his detention on terrorism charges this spring. The decision cleared the way for his immediate release and the restoration of his parliamentary seat, but Gergerlioglu remained behind bars an additional five days following the ruling.

Gergerlioglu, an outspoken critic of human rights violations in Turkey and a member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), was stripped of his parliamentary status in March and jailed weeks later following a court decision to uphold a 2.5-year prison sentence for spreading terrorist propaganda in a 2016 social media post.

The former deputy, who has denied the charges, told Al-Monitor in statements shared through his lawyers that his detention was not an “evil act” against him personally, but an affront on the democratic process and the votes of constituents who elected him to represent Kocaeli province in Turkey’s northwestern region.

“The Constitutional Court finally became a court that renders decisions in line with the law and the constitution,” Gergerlioglu said, welcoming the court’s decision in responses sent to Al-Monitor Monday.