The arrest of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ and 12 other MPs by Turkey in 2016 violated the politicians’ freedom of expression, liberty and security, and the right to free elections, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday, issuing a €184,600 fine including compensation for non-pecuniary damages.
The ECHR found violations regarding lawful arrest or detention, reasonableness of pre-trial detention and procedural guarantees of review under the right to liberty and security, as well as the right to freedom of expression.
“This ruling is proof that our clients are political hostages,” lawyer Ezgi Güngördü told Mezopotamya Agency.
“We believe there must be political reasons that this ruling came so late,” Güngördü continued. “This ruling was very delayed, considering the pioneering Demirtaş ruling was readily available.”
The ECHR referenced the appeal by Yüksekdağ’s co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, in which his continued arrest was deemed to be politically motivated and aimed to limit pluralism and political debate. “In the present case, given the similarity of the circumstances, the Court considers that the findings of the Grand Chamber in its Selahattin Demirtaş (no. 2) judgement are also relevant for the applicants in the present applications,” it said.
“The ECHR has once again assessed the whole judicial process from the lifting of the immunities of HDP MPs to their arrest, and assessed that there could be no legal basis to their continued detention, nor to their arrest or investigation,” Güngördü said. “Our clients should be urgently released.”
The ruling is the third time Turkey has been convicted of violating Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding limitations on how freedoms and rights could be restricted, lawyer Ramazan Demir told news website Bianet. The first two convictions have been Demirtaş and Osman Kavala, a Turkish philanthropist and businessman accused of having funded mass protests against the government in 2013.
“The ruling states that speeches the politicians gave during their campaigns and all of their comments that have been made basis of accusations fall within the boundaries of freedom of expression,” Demir said.
All MPs still behind bars should be released from prison in light of the ECHR ruling, and charges against them in a separate case where they stand accused of inciting violence in the 2014 street protests dubbed the Kobane Case should also be dropped, according to Demir.
“All in all, the immediate release of our friends who were unjustly and unlawfully taken hostage stands in front of Turkey as a requirement of universal law and the constitution,” the HDP said in a statement.
