https://ahvalnews.com-The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday ruled that Turkey violated the freedom of expression of tens of lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) by stripping them of their parliamentary immunity, BirGün newspaper reported.
The removal of the immunity of total of 40 HDP lawmakers, including the party’s former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, who have been behind bars for over five years on terror charges, violated the Turkish constitution, the ECHR said.
“All MPs behind bars must be released immediately,’’ Demirtaş’s lawyer Ramazan Demir said in reaction to the ruling on Twitter, adding that the ruling marked the “the curtain in unconstitutional crimes against Kurdish lawmakers’’ in the country.
Ankara has in recent years intensified a crackdown on the HDP, which it accuses of harbouring sympathies for and acting in the interest of the outlawed PKK, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union. The HDP denies the charges.
Since 2019, 48 of the 65 elected HDP mayors in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish eastern and southeastern regions have been removed from office by the Interior Ministry, citing “terror” investigations” while around a dozen deputies and tens of thousands of party members have been arrested on terror charges.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling coalition, backed by opposition parties, in 2016 passed an amendment to the Turkish constitution, allowing parliament to strip the legislative immunity of members of parliament subject to criminal investigations.
The HDP, Turkey’s third largest party parliament, is also facing a closure case against it for alleged ties to militants. The HDP has dismissed the charges, labelling the case a “political operation”.