Turkish appeals court upholds conviction of top Kurdish politician
Two weeks after a European rights court calls for Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas' release from prison, a Turkish appeals court confirms his conviction.
ANKARA, Turkey — An appeals court upheld the conviction of Kurdish political leader Selahattin Demirtas today, endorsing his imprisonment for terrorist propaganda, causing his party to accuse the judiciary of kowtowing to government.
The decision came two weeks after the European Court of Human Rights had called for Demirtas’ release, saying his pretrial detention had been inexcusably long and driven by the aim of keeping him out of the political arena.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had promptly rejected the Strasbourg court’s finding as nonbinding, adding: “We have many things to do in response to this. We will take counter measures.”
But Demirtas’ lawyers applied to a court in Ankara for his release, arguing that as a signatory to the Council of Europe, Turkey was obliged to respect the Strasbourg judgement. The Ankara court unanimously rejected the petition Friday.
