Council of Europe urges the release of imprisoned Kurdish leader

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) reiterated its demand for the release of imprisoned Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas, in accordance with the previous decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR,) Euronews Turkish reported. 

The Committee called for the personal application of Demirtas to Turkey’s Constitutional Court (AYM,) not to be delayed any longer.

The former HDP Co-Chair has been in prison since 2016 and his application to AYM dated 7 November 2019 for his release is yet to be ruled. 

In a meeting of the deputies of ministers, the CoE recalled that ECHR found the applicant was detained in the absence of evidence to support a reasonable suspicion he had committed an offence and his arrest and pre-trial detention pursued an ulterior purpose. 

“The lifting of the applicant’s parliamentary immunity and the way the criminal law was applied to penalise him for political speeches were not foreseeable and prescribed by law and that his consequent detention made it effectively impossible for him to take part in the activities of the National Assembly,” the deputies said.

In addition, the Committee underlined that “the decision of the AYM should be compatible with the conclusions and spirit of the Court’s judgment, involving good faith on the part of the respondent State.”