ERBIL () - The Council of Europe continues to press Türkiye over the case of Selahattin Demirtaş, with its Committee of Ministers reiterating that the evidence relied upon by Turkish courts remains insufficient to justify his detention or conviction and again urging authorities to secure his immediate release.
The Committee of Ministers, which supervises implementation of judgments by the European Court of Human Rights, addressed the Selahattin Demirtaş (No. 2) group v. Türkiye during its June 9-11 human-rights meeting.
In its decision, the committee recalled that the European Court had found that Demirtaş and other elected members of Türkiye's National Assembly had been detained without evidence sufficient to establish reasonable suspicion that they had committed an offence.
It also recalled the Court's finding that their arrests and pre-trial detention pursued an ulterior purpose.
The committee said the lifting of parliamentary immunity and the application of criminal law to political speeches had not been sufficiently foreseeable under the European Convention framework, while the resulting detention prevented the elected politicians from participating effectively in parliamentary work.
The Committee of Ministers further said the more recent Selahattin Demirtaş (No. 4) judgment reinforced its position.
According to the Council of Europe decision, the evidential basis relied upon by domestic courts remained inadequate to justify either the pre-trial detention or conviction of Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ Şenoğlu.
The committee also stated that what it described as the underlying political motivation continued to persist.
The ministers' deputies once again urged Turkish authorities to ensure the immediate release of Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ Şenoğlu "by all available means."
They also expressed profound concern over what they described as a lack of progress by Türkiye's Constitutional Court and Regional Appeal Court in dealing with the two politicians' complaints.
The committee stressed that Council of Europe member states have an unconditional obligation to implement judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and said domestic judicial authorities share responsibility for ensuring compliance.
It called on both courts to address the complaints without further delay and in accordance with the findings of the European Court.
The committee also asked Turkish authorities to provide regular information about measures taken or planned in response to recommendations of the "National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission."
The renewed scrutiny of the Demirtaş case comes as the Committee of Ministers prepares to examine another Türkiye-related human-rights issue in December.
According to announcement by the Council of Europe, the Gurban Group of cases concerning aggravated life sentences and the issue known in Türkiye as the "right to hope"has been placed on the agenda of the committee's Dec. 1-3 meeting.
The committee previously called on Türkiye to make legislative changes giving prisoners serving aggravated life sentences a prospect of release and requested an action plan.
For Demirtaş, the central issue remains implementation of the European Court judgments already examined by the committee, particularly its repeated demand that Turkish authorities secure his release and address the judicial consequences identified in the Strasbourg rulings.
