We stood our sixth watch in front of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Friday, January 1st. Due to the ongoing of epidemic, our watch lasted 3 hours with 4 attendances. During the watch;
- On our watch this week, we gathered for the implementation of the decision regarding the former co-chair of HDP Selahattin Demirtaş, who is still in prison despite the “immediate release” decision by the ECtHR Grand Chamber.
- European Court of Human Rights, in its first decision dated on 20th November 2018, ruled that HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, who was arrested on 4th November 2016, be released immediately.
- Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, in its decision announced on 22th December 2020, ruled that the second arrest warrant for Selahattin Demirtaş on 20th September 2019 was also a continuation of the first arrest, and that this detention was for political motives. Erdogan’s first comment was “This decision not my concern” against this correct decision, which includes many firsts in terms of ECtHR and even all member states of the Council of Europe.
- The Ankara Seventh Court of Peace, rejected the request for release on 26th December 2020 on the grounds that “ It has been understood that the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has written a warrant to Ministry of Justice to send the Turkish translation of the aforementioned decision to the file, bu no response has been received yet. It has been understood that there is no translation text of the verdict attached by the suspect’s defender, as such was not known for which crimes and in what scope the decision of the ECtHR is based on which application, the decision in question is not suitable for legal supervision.
- It is obvious that the Erdogan government has not implemented the ECtHR rulings in favor of the political opposition. According to 2019 data after Russia between the signatory countries, we mentioned that Turkey is a country that does not implement the ECtHR’s final order the most.
- As the Movement for Unconditional Justice, we are thinking that considering all the pressure applied against Mr. Demirtaş who received 8.40% of the votes in the 2018 presidential election, that’s a political figure, representing 8.40% of Turkey’s population, the effort to keep he in Prison solely for political reasons will provide sufficient foresight to the ECtHR about the extent to which Turkish Judiciary is under the control of the political power.
As a result, we invite the Republic of Turkey to comply witch the international conventions it pledges to implement. At the same time we also remind that the Council of Europe that failure to comply with the contract under which Turkey is committed to abide by and court decision at any time threatens the system of European Convention on Human Rights and the European Council. The decision of the ECtHR on Selahattin Demirtaş is quite satisfactory. However, after this progression, we invite you to review to other pending applications for the reasons mentioned above. We invite you to take the necessary steps for the execution of dozens of decision that are final orders but not implemented, like the Demirtaş Decision of the Council of Europe.