ECtHR to give priority to cases of jailed HDP deputies in Turkey

Selahattin Demirtaş.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will give priority to applications for the cases of 11 pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies who are imprisoned in Turkey on terrorism charges.

According to a Deutsche Welle (DW) story on Monday, the ECtHR in Strasbourg marked the cases of the HDP deputies “urgent” and demanded that the Turkish government explain whether the arrest of the deputies and their situation in prison conform with with European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

HDP Co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ along with nine other lawmakers from the party are now in Turkish jails on terror charges following the revocation of their parliamentary immunity in May 2016.

Turkey has stepped up its crackdown on Kurdish politicians in recent months. Trustees have been appointed to dozens of municipalities in the country’s predominantly Kurdish Southeast, while hundreds of local Kurdish politicians and co-chairs have been arrested on terror charges.

The developments have attracted widespread criticism from the region and Western countries. (turkishminute.com) July 17, 2017

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