ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An Istanbul court on Tuesday upheld a terror conviction of Selahattin Demirtas, a move his party has condemned as political.
Demirtas “will remain a hostage,” tweeted his lawyer Mahsuni Karaman, announcing the court’s rejection of an appeal of his September conviction of spreading terror propaganda. He was sentenced to four years and eight months.
He is facing 142 years on multiple charges stemming from allegations of ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). But his Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which he led before his arrest and detention, says the case against him is political.
“The judiciary proved it is a tool in the hands of the executive,” HDP co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli said in a statement reacting to the court’s decision.
They accused of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of instructing the judiciary in front of the cameras after he said that a ruling on Demirtas’ case from the European Court of Human Rights has no bearing on Turkey.
The European court ruled in November that Turkey should end its pre-trial detention of Demirtas pending his appeal and found several instances of human rights violations by the courts in the handling of his case.
Demirtas “will remain a hostage,” tweeted his lawyer Mahsuni Karaman, announcing the court’s rejection of an appeal of his September conviction of spreading terror propaganda. He was sentenced to four years and eight months.
He is facing 142 years on multiple charges stemming from allegations of ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). But his Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which he led before his arrest and detention, says the case against him is political.
“The judiciary proved it is a tool in the hands of the executive,” HDP co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli said in a statement reacting to the court’s decision.
They accused of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of instructing the judiciary in front of the cameras after he said that a ruling on Demirtas’ case from the European Court of Human Rights has no bearing on Turkey.
The European court ruled in November that Turkey should end its pre-trial detention of Demirtas pending his appeal and found several instances of human rights violations by the courts in the handling of his case.
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