Court of Cassation Demands Reversal of Demirtaş’s Prison Term Over Newroz Speech

* Photo: Twitter

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation has demanded that the prison sentence of former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş over his Newroz speech be overturned.

Demirtaş was previously sentenced to 4 years, 8 months in prison due to the speech that he held in Newroz celebrations in İstanbul in 2013. He was charged with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization."

According to the letter of notification issued by the Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation, the fact that the related speech was analyzed by law enforcement officers rather than independent experts from the state channel TRT, Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) or Forensic Medicine Institution and that Demirtaş was not granted time for his last defense led to a "restriction of his right of defense."

'He was sentenced to 4 years, 8 months'

As reported by Alican Uludağ from daily Cumhuriyet, the İstanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court previously ruled that Selahattin Demirtaş should be sentenced to 4 years, 8 months in prison for "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" on the ground that "he praised the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan" with the speech that he held in Zeytinburnu, İstanbul during Newroz celebrations on May 17, 2013.

Former HDP MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder was also sentenced to 3 years, 6 months in prison as part of the same lawsuit. The Constitutional Court has concluded that this prison sentence violated the rights of Önder.

As for the prison sentence of former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, it was finalized as per the verdict of the court of appeals. However, with the judicial reform package having entered into force later on, Demirtaş had the right of appeal against the verdict at the Court of Cassation.

'It doesn't constitute elements of propaganda offense'

Having examined the appeal, the Chief Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation has sent its letter of notification to the 16th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, demanding that the prison sentence be overturned.

The letter of notification has indicated that a sentence uttered by the defendant as the chair of a political party in the speech that he held on the day of incident was misanalyzed and when the speech is evaluated as a whole, it falls within the scope of freedom of thought and expression and does not constitute the elements of propaganda offense.

'Restricting right of defense is against the law'

The letter of notification issued by the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation has also referred to the failure of giving time to Demirtaş for his last defense as a reason for the reversal of his prison sentence.

According to the letter, in his last statement of defense as to the accusations dated September 7, 2018, Demirtaş indicated that the prosecutor's opinion as to the accusations had been delivered to him two days before the hearing and requested time to make his last defense; however, his request was rejected by the court, which then proceeded the trial and gave a ruling on Demirtaş even though it was understood that the written opinion as to the accusations was indeed delivered to him on September 4, 2018.

In this context, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation has demanded that the verdict against Demirtaş be reversed as per the Article 302 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK) as the above restriction of his right of defense is considered to be against the law. (RT/SD)