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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Resolutions |
CM/ResDH(2021)428 |
2 December 2021 |
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Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2021)428 Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights Selahattin Demirtaş v. Turkey (No. 2) (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 2 December 2021 |
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Case |
Judgment of |
Final on |
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14305/17 |
SELAHATTİN DEMİRTAŞ (No 2) |
22/12/2020 |
22/12/2020 |
The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”);
Recalling the Court’s findings, in connection with the applicant’s arrest and pre-trial detention between 4 November 2016 and 7 December 2018, that the domestic courts failed to give specific facts or information that could give rise to a reasonable suspicion that he had committed the offences in question and justify his detention (violations of Article 5 paragraphs 1 and 3 of the Convention); that the way in which his parliamentary inviolability was removed by the amendment of Article 83 paragraph 2 of the Turkish Constitution on 20 May 2016, and also deficiencies in the reasoning of the courts in ordering the pre-trial detention, violated his rights to freedom of expression and to sit as a member of parliament (violations of Article 10 and Article 3 of Protocol No. 1); and that the pre-trial detention moreover pursued an ulterior purpose, namely to stifle pluralism and limit freedom of political debate (violation of Article 18 taken in conjunction with Article 5 paragraph 1);
Recalling further the Court’s indication under Article 46 of the Convention that the nature of the violation under Article 18 left no real choice as to the measures required to remedy it, and that any continuation of the applicant’s pre-trial detention on grounds pertaining to the same factual context would entail a prolongation of the violation of his rights as well as a breach of the obligation on the respondent State to abide by the Court’s judgment in accordance with Article 46 paragraph 1 of the Convention;
Noting that the applicant is currently detained in pre-trial detention in connection with charges pending before the Ankara 22nd Assize Court;
Recalling the Committee’s previous decisions, particularly those adopted at its 1398th meeting (9-11 March 2021) (DH) and 1411th meeting (14-16 September 2021) (DH);
EXPRESSED its profound concern that the applicant has been continuously deprived of his liberty since November 2016;
REITERATED that the argument of the Turkish authorities that the applicant’s current pre-trial detention falls outside the scope of the Court’s judgment was examined and rejected by the Court in its indication under Article 46, as well as by the Committee in its previous examinations based on the information available to it;
UNDERLINED that the obligation of restitutio in integrum calls for measures to restore the applicant as far as possible to the position he would have enjoyed had these violations not occurred and that such measures should be compatible with the conclusions and spirit of the Court’s judgment, involving good faith on the part of the respondent State, which is of paramount importance where the Court has found a violation of Article 18;
EXPRESSED the strong hope that the Constitutional Court concludes its examination of the applicant’s complaints in the shortest possible timeframe and in a manner compatible with the spirit and conclusions of the Court’s judgment.
STRONGLY URGED again the authorities, in the meantime, to assure the applicant’s immediate release;
DECIDED to resume examination at its 1428th meeting (March 2022) (DH) at the latest.