The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has severely condemned Turkey for the detention since 2016 of the pro-Kurdish leader, and former Turkish presidential candidate, Selahattin Demirtas on Tuesday, December 22. An “immediate” release has been called for. In its judgment, the ECHR indicated that it had found “several violations” of the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular against the right to “freedom of expression”, “freedom and security”, or even organization of “free elections”.
In total, the judgment of the ECHR identifies no less than five violations of the Convention, an international treaty signed by the member states of the Council of Europe, including Turkey, which aims to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Selahattin Demirtas accused of “terrorism” by Ankara
Former deputy, Selahattin Demirtas has been held in Turkish jails since his arrest in November 2016, a few months after the failed July coup against Erdogan: accused by Ankara of “terrorism”, this former co-president of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP, pro Kurdish) faces up to 142 years in prison if found guilty in his main trial, the verdict of which has yet to be delivered.
Last June, the Turkish Constitutional Court had already ruled that the detention of Selahattin Demirtas constituted a violation of his rights. In September 2019, a Turkish court even ordered his release, but the opponent remained in prison due to an old conviction for “terrorist propaganda”.
Suspected by his detractors of having used the July 2016 coup attempt to organize massive purges, Erdogan has repeatedly accused the HDP of being the political showcase of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group classified as terrorist by Ankara and its Western allies. The second largest opposition force in parliament, the HDP was strongly affected by the arrests carried out after this failed coup.
The ECHR maintains that Ankara seeks to “stifle pluralism”
In its press release, the ECHR, which had already unsuccessfully requested his release in 2018, considers “ established ” that the deprivation of liberty suffered by this pro-Kurdish opponent, in particular during the referendum campaigns of April 16, 2017 and the presidential election of June 24, 2018, ” pursued an unacknowledged goal, namely that of stifling pluralism and limiting the free play of political debate, which is at the very heart of the notion of democratic society ”.
The Turkish authorities “placed the applicant in pre-trial detention and subjected him to criminal prosecution mainly because of his speeches of a political nature”, further indicates the Court, which underlines the lack of “evidence” demonstrating a ” clear link ”between Demirtas’ speeches and the“ terrorist ”offenses which, according to Ankara, motivated his placement and his continued detention.
The judgment further pinpoints the controversial constitutional reform of May 20, 2016 intended to lift the immunity of deputies targeted by legal proceedings. A reform that had aroused concern, in Turkey and in Europe, about the future of pro-Kurdish elected officials, who then considered themselves targeted.
“Only the deputies of the opposition parties, namely the CHP and the HDP, have been deprived of their liberty and / or sentenced” as a result of this reform and the criminal proceedings against them, notes the ECHR.
The case of Selahattin Demirtas is not unique
It constitutes “an unprecedented modification (…) in the Turkish constitutional tradition”, further points out the Court, which has condemned Ankara on several occasions for improper arrests and detentions in the wake of the failed coup.
“The decisions relating to the placement and maintenance in pre-trial detention (of Selahattin Demirtas) are not an isolated case”, but “seem to follow a certain constant”, moved the ECHR, which recalls that, according to Dunja Mijatovic, the commissioner at the Council of Europe Human Rights, “(Turkish) legislation is increasingly used to stifle dissenting voices”. The Court awarded Selahattin Demirtas a total of 60,400 euros on various grounds.
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