HDP Sues Erdoğan For Non-pecuniary Damages

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has applied to Diyarbakır Civil Court of First Instance on duty to sue President and Justice and Development Party's Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for saying "he is a terrorist" referring to Selahattin Demirtaş in a statement he made following the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany on July 8.

Violation of presumption of innocence

In the petition, it was stated that Demirtaş had been elected MP in the General Elections on July 22, 2007 and was an MP without and interruption during the 23th, 24th and 25th terms of the Parliament, that he still held that position and was the Co-chair of HDP which was the third biggest political party in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

It has been argued in the application, that Erdoğan's expression "he is a terrorist" was a violation of presumption of innocence and aimed at influencing the judicial process.

Claiming that Erdoğan's expression constituted an attack on the personal rights of Demirtaş, non-pecuniary damages in amount of 145,000 euro were claimed. The amount for the non-pecuniary damages was calculated as one Kurus for each person who voted for HDP on the elections on June 7 plus its legal interest rate.

What was Erdogan's Words?

In a press conference he had held following the G20 summit in Hamburg, Erdoğan had said:

"That person (Demirtaş) is a terrorist, and he is a terrorist who made all my Kurdish brothers and sisters take it to the streets, and let them get murdered by Kurds as well. (EA/DG)