 ruling that found his detention unlawful.){kind=link}
Turkey’s opposition parties on Tuesday called for the release of Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş as he marked nine years in prison, following a binding European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling that found his detention unlawful.
Demirtaş, 52, a former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was arrested on November 4, 2016, on “terrorism-related” charges as part of a government crackdown on opposition figures. Once one of Turkey’s most prominent political voices, he remains widely regarded in Western capitals as a political prisoner.
In 2024 a Turkish court sentenced Demirtaş to 42 years for his alleged role in the 2014 protests that broke out after Islamic State group fighters besieged the Syrian border town of Kobane. He also faces multiple other charges, including spreading “terrorist propaganda” and insulting the president.
The ECtHR has repeatedly ruled that Demirtaş’s imprisonment violates his rights and called for his release, findings that Ankara has ignored. On Monday night the Strasbourg-based court issued its final ruling, declaring his detention unlawful and ordering his immediate release.
Following the judgment, the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, the third-largest in parliament, renewed its call for Demirtaş and his former co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ to be freed. “[In view of] the numerous ECtHR decisions thus far and its latest final decision, our friends should be released immediately,” the party said.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) echoed the demand. CHP lawmaker Sezgin Tanrıkulu, representing the southeastern city of Diyarbakır, said on X that the decision “is now final — it must be implemented immediately.”
Mahsuni Karaman, one of Demirtaş’s lawyers, said they had filed court papers requesting his release. “The appeals chamber can do two things: immediately release him or review the case on its merits,” he told broadcaster İlke TV.
© Agence France-Presse