German MP Hunko: Turkey must release Demirtaş

Commenting on the judgment of the ECtHR on Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş, German parliament member Andrej Hunko said Turkey is obliged to implement the Strasbourg judgments.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that Turkey must release former HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas as soon as possible from pre-trial detention.

The Kurdish politician was arrested in November 2016 and has since been detained at the maximum security prison in Edirne, western Turkey.

The ECtHR ruled that the fact that Demirtaş could not fulfill his duties as a Member of the Turkish National Assembly, inter alia, constituted an unlawful interference with freedom of expression. His detention, especially during the presidential election campaign last June and the controversial referendum on the transition from a parliamentary to a presidential system, had the ultimate goal of stifling pluralism and limiting freedom of political debate, the court said.

"The judgment must be implemented"

"The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Selahattin Demirtaş is extremely important and welcome," Andrej Hunko, European policy spokesman for the Left Party (DIE LINKE) and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said in a press release:

"The presidential candidate of the left-Kurdish HDP has been held illegally in custody for two years, a fact that also distorted the parliamentary and presidential elections in June. DIE LINKE has repeatedly protested against this arbitrariness since the arrest.

I expect Turkey to release Selahattin Demirtaş in the next few days. As a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey is required to implement the Strasbourg judgments. The judgment also underlines the importance of the legal system of the European Convention on Human Rights with the ECtHR, which must be defended and developed.”