Lawyers seek justice from Council of Europe for Demirtas case

Lawyers seek justice from Council of Europe for Demirtas case

Lawyers seek justice from Council of Europe for Demirtas case

Lawyers seek justice from Council of Europe for Demirtas case

Lawyers seek justice from Council of Europe for Demirtas case

Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas. (AFP/HDP)

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Lawyers seek justice from Council of Europe for Demirtas case

Demirtas has been imprisoned since Nov. 4, 2016

Updated 24 July 2020

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ANKARA: Turkey's refusal to implement the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has pushed lawyers of Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas to take the case to the country's top court.

One of his lawyers also filed an application to the Council of Europe ministers' committee at the same time.

Demirtas, the former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), has been imprisoned since Nov. 4, 2016.

The ECHR ruled that the Kurdish politician's rights were violated after he was given a 10-month prison sentence for his remarks on the Kurdish Roj TV show in 2005 during his Diyarbakir chairmanship of the left-wing Human Rights Association.

He was accused of making terror propaganda for this speech. The European court ruled its member country Turkey should pay compensation to Demirtas for the violation of his freedom of expression.

But the Turkish court rejected all requests for a retrial and acquittal, saying there