European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided that the freedom of expression of former People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, who was convicted due to “making illegal organisation propaganda” with a speech he gave on a TV show in 2005 via phone call, was violated. The court sentenced Turkey to pay 2,500 Euros of moral compensation and 1000 Euros of court expenses.
At the time, Demirtaş was Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakır Chairman and has been sentenced to 10 months of deferred imprisonment in 2010 by Diyarbakır 5th Assize Court due to the speech he gave on PKK leader Öcalan’s role in the Kurdish Question and for the isolation against Öcalan and the ban against his meetings with lawyers to be removed. ECHR indicated that the speech “did not involve any incitement or encouragement towards violence or armed riot” and that it “did not involve hate speech,” deciding that Demirtaş’s conviction is not necessary in a democratic society.
09.07.2019
bianet.org