1406^th meeting, 7-9 June 2021 (DH)

H46-32 Selahattin Demirtaş v. Turkey (No. 2) (Application No. 14305/17)

Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments

Decisions

The Deputies

1. recalled that in the present case the Court found that the applicant was detained in the absence of evidence to support a reasonable suspicion he had committed an offence (violation of Article 5 §§ 1 and 3) and that his arrest and pre-trial detention especially during two crucial campaigns pursued an ulterior purpose, namely to stifle pluralism and limit freedom of political debate (violation of Article 18 taken in conjunction with Article 5); that lifting of the applicant’s parliamentary immunity and the way the criminal law was applied to penalise the applicant for political speeches were not foreseeable and prescribed by law (Article 10) and that his consequent detention made it effectively impossible for the applicant to take part in the activities of the National Assembly (Article 3 of Protocol No. 1);

As regards individual measures

3. noted that the applicant’s conviction under Article 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act on disseminating propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation was upheld by the Court of Cassation on 26 April 2021 and, that according to the information provided by the Turkish authorities during the meeting, the applicant started serving his prison sentence on 3 May 2021;
4. invited the authorities to submit the text of the judgment of the Court of Cassation and a translation thereof, together with comprehensive information on the consequences of the above conviction as soon as possible; and instructed the Secretariat to make an assessment in time for the Committee’s next examination;

As regards general measures

5. noting that the deadline to submit an action plan shall expire on 22 June 2021, considered it premature to examine the general measures required in response to the judgment and encouraged the authorities, in view of the Court’s findings in particular under Article 18 in conjunction with Article 5, to provide in their forthcoming action plan information on measures envisaged to strengthen the Turkish judiciary against any interference and ensure its full independence, by drawing on the relevant Council of Europe standards.
6. decided to resume their examination of the case at their 1411^th meeting (September 2021) (DH)