Selahattin Demirtaş has been in custody for more than two years in a Turkish high security prison in Edirne. Next Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will decide on the legality of the arrest of the former Co-Chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), his lawyer Mahsuni Karaman said.

Demirtaş was arrested on 4 November 2016 at the same time as many other members of his party. Several lawsuits have been filed against him and so far he has been convicted in one case. Pretrial detention is justified by only one ongoing criminal case against him.

Lawyers for Demirtaş had appealed to the ECtHR and denounced a “violation of individual freedom and safety, freedom of expression and election right.”

The arrested HDP MPs Figen Yüksekdağ, Nihat Akdoğan, Abdullah Zeydan, Selma Irmak, İdris Baluken, Ferhat Encü, Gülser Yıldırım and Çağlar Demirel also brought cases before the ECtHR.