Constitutional Court: Rights of Selahattin Demirtaş violated

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Constitutional Court has announced its ruling on imprisoned former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş.

The Constitutional Court has concluded that the right to personal liberty and security of Demirtaş guaranteed by the Article 19 of the Constitution has been violated as the period that he served behind bars as an arrestee exceeded the reasonable duration foreseen by the law. Demirtaş will be paid 50 thousand lira in non-pecuniary damages.

The application of Demirtaş's attornies to the Constitutional Court also argued that the aforementioned right of Demirtaş was violated also because of a failure to examine his arrest. The Court has found this application "inadmissible" on the ground of "jurisdiction ratione materiae."

In applying to the Court, the attorneys of Demirtaş also indicated that their request for release and objections to his arrest were not concluded, which also led to a right violation. The Court has found this application "inadmissible" as well on the ground that "it is time barred."

A copy of the Constitutional Court ruling has been sent to the Ministry of Justice and the Ankara 19th Heavy Penal Court for information.

'Second arrest is no longer valid'

Mahsuni Karaman, an attorney for Selahattin Demirtaş, has commented on the ruling on his Twitter account:

"This ruling is important, it will have an effect on the second verdict of arrest given on September 20, 2019 and still in force today.

"With this ruling, the Constitutional Court has concluded that the arrest of Demirtaş from November 4, 2016 to September 2, 2019 over the incidents of October 6-8 [Kobanê protests in 2014] was not reasonable.

"Considering that the second verdict of arrest has been given for the same reason, this second verdict is no longer valid.

"In short, Demirtaş was arrested due to October 6-8 incidents and the violation has been confirmed by this verdict. As the second arrest is based on the same reason, it needs to be ended as soon as possible."

'He needs to be released'

Benan Molu, another attorney for Demirtaş, has also shared a brief message on her social media account about the ruling.

Reiterating that the Constitutional Court has found Demirtaş's first period of arrest unreasonable, Molu has briefly stated the following:

"On the day when he was released, Selahattin Demirtaş was arrested again as part of an investigation where he was not a suspect. For that reason, this ruling does not enable his release.

"Influenced by the ECtHR verdict of right violation, the Constitutional Court has given its ruling of right violation based on the points that it ignored in the application as to the legality of his arrest.

"Two separate applications that we made about the failure to enforce the ECtHR ruling of violation and immediate release were combined; however, contrary to the verdict on Şahin Alpay, it did not feel the need to separately examine these complaints (and our allegation pertaining to the violation of Article 18). In fact, the two applications were based on this.

"The evidence used on November 4, 2016 was cited as the reason for his second arrest on a different charge to prevent his release on September 20, 2019. As the second arrest is the continuation of the first one, Selahattin Demirtaş must be released in accordance with this ruling."

Trial of Selahattin Demirtaş

Selahattin Demirtaş was detained on November 4, 2016. He was arrested and sent to Silivri Prison in İstanbul on the same day. He is still behind bars in Silivri.

All his investigations, except for one, have been combined in a single file. The lawsuit filed at the Ankara 19th Heavy Penal Court has still not been concluded. As his request for release as part of this suit was rejected, his attorneys appealed to the Constitutional Court.

In their application to the Constitutional Court on May 29, 2018, the attorneys requested that his application be reviewed with priority. However, the Court has not yet responded to the application. On June 26, 2018, his case was taken to the ECtHR.

Shortly after this appeal to the ECtHR, the court announced its judgment in his second case. Tried in the case together with former HDP MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Selahattin Demirtaş has been sentenced to 4 years, 8 months in prison on the charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" by the İstanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court.

One month later, on October 25, 2018, his verdict of conviction reached the 2nd Penal Chamber of İstanbul Regional Court of Justice, the court of appeal.

On November 17, 2018, the ECtHR announced that it would announce its judgment as to his application on November 20. The court of appeal swiftly reviewed the verdict of conviction of Demirtaş and started discussing it on November 19.

On November 20, 2018, the ECtHR concluded that Demirtaş was "arrested with political motivations" and ruled for his release.

The Ankara 19th Heavy Penal Court rejected his request for release on November 30 ,2018, indicating that "his arrest was a moderate measure".

On December 4, 2018, the 2nd Penal Chamber of İstanbul Regional Court of Justice upheld his verdict of conviction. With this verdict, Demirtaş became an arrested convict.

The attorneys of Demirtaş appealed again to the ECtHR on February 19, 2019, and requested that the issues not discussed, found inadmissible and not regarded as violation right be reviewed again.

The government also appealed against the ECtHR verdict on Demirtaş. In its petition, the government also requested that the ECtHR review its ruling of right violation again. That being the case, the case of Demirtaş has been taken to the ECtHR Grand Chamber, which announced that it would discuss the application on September 18, 2019.

In his hearing at the Ankara 19th Heavy Penal Court on September 2, the court board has ruled that Demirtaş shall be released.

As his request for release has been rejected, his attorneys lodged a request of "deduction", demanding that the period that he has already served in prison be deducted from his prison term so that he could be released on probation. This request has not been answered yet.

(TP/SD)