Lawyers for the former leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) say they are optimistic the court will challenge the case for his imprisonment on terror charges.
A high-profile HDP delegation accompanied Demirtas’ legal team, which made the case for his release. They faced a six-member Turkish legal team which included renowned German legal expert Stefan Talmon.
Detained in November 2016 for terror-related charges, Demirtas could face a prison sentence of 142 years if found guilty.
Demirtas, 46, is accused of being a member of a terrorist organization, of propagating for a terrorist organization, offending the Turkish president, and inciting violence.
Addressing the hearing, Basak Cali, a member of Demirtas’ legal team, said her client is in prison “because he is a Kurdish left-wing politician who stands in strong opposition to the government of Turkey”.
“The legal question before you is a simple one. Has the Republic of Turkey, when it deprived Mr Demirtas of his liberty on November 4, 2016 and every single day after that, violated the European Convention on Human Rights?” she said.
Hacı Ali Acikgul, part of the Turkish government’s legal team, disputed the claim, insisting Demirtas is behind bars for committing “crimes” including “calling for violence”.
Acikgul was specifically referring to a demonstration which took place in Turkey’s Suruc district of Sanliurfa province in July 2015 to protest the Islamic State (ISIS) siege of Kurdish-majority Kobane in neighboring Syria.
At least 30 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the protest.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the blast, yet the Turkish government blamed Demirtas for encouraging people to protest.
Dunja Mijatović, commissioner for the third party, said one of the main concerns in Turkey is “the systematic failure by Turkish courts to meet the requirements of Article Five [on the right to liberty and security of individuals] for arrest and initial and continued detention”.
The Turkish parliament revoked the immunity of 55 HDP lawmakers in May 2016, leading to the arrest of 12 MPs in the aftermath of the failed July 2016 coup.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused his former ally Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the attempted coup. Demirtas and the HDP’s then-co-chair Figen Yuksekdag were swept up in the resulting crackdown.
Two weeks after his arrest, Demirtas lodged an application to the Turkish Constitutional Court, but it was declined.
He later lodged an application at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in February 2017.
On November 20, 2018, the court called on Turkey to swiftly process the Demirtas case and end his pre-trial detention.
“The Court found that the judicial authorities had extended Mr Demirtas’ detention on grounds that could not be regarded as ‘sufficient’ to justify its duration,” the ECtHR said in a statement at the time.
However, the decision was rejected by an Ankara court ten days later.
Mahsuni Karaman, a lawyer who has defended Demirtas since his arrest, was also at Wednesday’s hearing.
He tweeted following Wednesday’s hearing: “I hope to hear a satisfying decision and hear the glad-tiding of Demirtas freedom as soon as possible.”
Benan Molu, also representing Demirtas, said in a tweet that it may take the ECtHR 6-9 months to make the final decision on the case.
Sezai Temelli, the HDP’s current co-chair who led the party’s delegation to Strasbourg on Wednesday, said the hearing “actually was very important to expose the misfortune and lawlessness in Turkey”.
Temelli thanked Demirtas’ legal team “who are not only defending but also carrying out a strong fight against the great lawlessness in Turkey”.
Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos, head of the 20-member judges’ panel, said the court will announce the date of the next hearing later.
A Turkish Assize Court in Ankara ordered the conditional release of Demirtas on September 2, ruling the Kurdish leader can be released “if the defendant is not convicted for other crimes”.
Although Turkish prosecutors objected, a higher Turkish Assize Court backed the decision of Demirtas’ release on September 10.
Demirtas led efforts between 2013 and 2015 to broker a peace deal between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – an armed opposition group fighting for greater political and cultural rights for Turkey’s Kurdish minority.
Demirtas ran in the 2018 Turkish presidential election from his prison cell.
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