The Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) strongly criticized the assault and detention of the deposed HDP deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu and said: "The revocation of Gergerlioğlu's parliamentary membership is a violation of the active and passive right to vote. His degrading treatment in the parliamentary corridor and at his home, as well as his detention, violate the prohibition of torture. Gergerlioğlu's detention despite a medical report to the contrary is a violation of access to health care and an expression of the execution of enemy law."

"Fighting together against injustice"

The statement continued, “Gergerlioğlu is the voice of all the oppressed and disregarded. What is at stake now is his existence as a political subject, his freedom and also his life. He has always been at our side in the struggle for human rights. Today we stand by his. We call on the government to act in accordance with the conventions to which it is a signatory and the Constitution, and appeal to all who support human rights and democracy to fight together against this injustice."

Imprisoned for appealing for peace

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy for Kocaeli province had his parliamentary mandate revoked on March 17 due to a final conviction. The authorities had set a deadline of ten days for the detention to begin. Gergerlioğlu had announced that he would not comply with the request and would stay at his home.

In February, the Turkish Court of Cassation had upheld a two and a-half year prison sentence against Gergerlioğlu for his appeals for peace directed at both the Turkish state and the Kurdish movement. By the judiciary, the commitment to peace - in this specific case in the form of a retweet from 2016 - is interpreted as terror propaganda.