European Court of Human Rights issued that arrested former People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş must be released pending trial. “European Court of Human Rights decrees do not bind us. We’ll make our counter move,” President Erdoğan said.
The court decided that articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHE) regulating ‘the right to prosecution within a reasonable time’ and ‘the right to effective application’; issuing all measures to be taken to end Demirtaş’s arrest and sentencing Turkey to a total of 25 thousand Euros of compensation. Demirtaş remains arrested for two years.
The verdict indicated that his long period of arrest before a hearing has caused Demirtaş not to be able to take place in political activities of the Turkish Parliament and that leads to an intervention against freedom of expression and the freedom of election. It was further stated that the extension on Demirtaş’s arrest during the Constitutional referendum on April 16, 2017 as well as Presidential elections on June 24, 2018 has “sabotaged pluralism” and “restricted independent political debates,” which are in the heart of a democratic society.
Within this scope, Turkey was found guilty for the first time in violating Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The article states, “The restrictions permitted under this Convention to the said rights and freedoms shall not be applied for any purpose other than those for which they have been prescribed.”
With this conviction, the court is handling the political environment in Turkey in terms of democracy and the judiciary; leading to conclusions such as a non-working democracy in Turkey, Demirtaş’s arrest being entirely due to political reasons and that the Turkish judiciary is not independent.
20.11.2018
bianet / bbc.com.