The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) asked the AKP-MHP government to respond to some issues over the second detention order issued against former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş. This second detention order has been issued in relation to the so called Kobanê file.

Ramazan Demir and Benan Molu, Demirtaş’ lawyers, announced the ECHR's notification on their Twitter account.

The ECHR asked the following:

“Was the applicant remanded in custody in violation of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention? More specifically, considering the charges in the criminal trial followed before the Ankara Assize Court since 2017, the provisional detention of the person ordered by the Ankara justice of the peace on September 20, 2020, was it in conformity with to national law? In addition, can the applicant be considered to have been remanded in custody on the basis of “plausible reasons” to suspect him of having committed a criminal offense, within the meaning of subparagraph […]”

Under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention, did the domestic courts give relevant and sufficient reasons to justify the applicant's pre-trial detention? Furthermore, was the length of the applicant's pre-trial detention compatible with the condition of trial within a “reasonable time” […]

Did the proceedings before the Constitutional Court by which the applicant sought to challenge the legality of his pre-trial detention comply with the requirements of Article 5 § 4 of the Convention? In particular, was the length of these proceedings compatible with the “short time limit” requirement of this article?

Was there a violation of the applicant's freedom of expression, within the meaning of Article 10 of the Convention? If so, was the infringement provided for by a sufficiently precise and predictable law and necessary in a democratic society?”