Official Translation of ECtHR Ruling on Selahattin Demirtaş at Court

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The official Turkish translation of the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Selahattin Demirtaş, which was originally announced in English and French, was submitted to the Ankara 19th Heavy Penal Court yesterday (November 29).

The ECtHR gave its judgement on Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) former Co-Chair Demirtaş on November 20, 2018 and ruled that "all necessary measures shall be adopted to put an end to his pre-trial detention."

The court also emphasized that the detention of Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been behind bars in the Edirne Type F Prison since November 4, 2016, "pursued the predominant ulterior purpose of stifling pluralism and limiting the freedom of political debate."

CLICK - ECtHR: Selahattin Demirtaş Should Be Released

Making a statement regarding the issue, attorneys of Demirtaş have stated, "We have been underlining that all verdicts other than that of an immediate release would be unlawful and would point to a misconduct in office."

The attorneys of Selahattin Demirtaş submitted an application to the Ankara 19th Heavy Penal Court on the day when the ruling of the ECtHR was announced and requested that Demirtaş be immediately released.

As stated by the attorneys, "The court announced that it would give its ruling on Selahattin Demirtaş after receiving the official Turkish translation of the ECtHR ruling from the Ministry of Justice."

CLICK - Application for Release of Selahattin Demirtaş

In its judgement, the ECtHR also emphasized that "any continuation of the applicant's pre-trial detention" will entail a prolongation of the stated violations and "a breach of the obligations on Turkey to abide by the Court's judgment in accordance with Article 46 § 1 of the Convention." (AS/SD)