Call for Selahattin Demirtaş’s release citing İnce

Once it became certain that Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been in detention in Edirne Prison since 4 November 2016, would stand for president, his lawyers moved into action. His lawyers have applied for his release in a 56-point submission they made to Ankara Serious Crime Court No 19 which is hearing the main case in which Demirtaş is detained.

In the submission, in which it is recalled that Demirtaş’s candidacy became certain following its promulgation in the Official Gazette by the Supreme Election Council, the following discussion was made:

 “Pursuant both the Constitution and Law number 298, the most definitive principles in relation to elections are the principles of equality and liberty. The principles of equality and liberty not only cover voters’ rights to elect and vote, but also apply to the opportunities and powers of which candidates participating in elections avail themselves. The basic activity in elections is campaign and promotional activity. In order for the principle of equality and liberty to come into being, all candidates must avail themselves of the opportunity to campaign and acquaint voters with their own manifesto in full freedom and in an equal manner. The voters cast their vote in a secret ballot after opinions have been formed freely in this way among the public leading to a fulfilling of the principle that is defining of democratic systems of ‘selecting effective political offices through election.’ It is impossible for meetings in open-closed spaces and radio and TV speeches, constituting fundamental activities in election processes, to be carried out under conditions of detention. It is inadequate for the principle of free elections and equality to be consented to in purely abstract terms, and it must also be given concrete implementation. However much our client is exercising his right to stand for president while in detention, his being prevented from participating equally in electoral activity due to his detention amounts to a violation of Article 67/1 in conjunction with Article 19 of the Constitution.”

 16 April reminder

 It was stressed in the submission that, since he is a member of parliament, Demirtaş’s detention amounted both to a grave violation of the right to stand for election and also to a grave violation of the “right to elect” of the voters who bestowed representational powers on him. It was pointed out that since the date of Demirtaş’s detention, he has neither been able to participate in any legislative activity nor was he able to engage in any activity in the 16 April referendum.

 The submission, noting that the other five presidential candidates apart from Demirtaş are conducting electoral work making use of all campaigning tools, goes on to remark, “There is widespread public acceptance that the presidential election held under these conditions is overshadowing its legitimacy.” The submission, pointing out that frequent mention has been made by the representatives of a number of other political parties and in person by presidential candidates Muharrem İnce and Temel Karamollaoğlu to the fact that a presidential election held under conditions in which Demirtaş is detained will be unfair, says, “According to Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, 19 of the Constitution and 100 of the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as European Court of Human Rights case law, evidence tampering and flight risk must be concrete not abstract and must be proved with concrete evidence.”

 Selahattin Demirtaş'a İnce’li tahliye talebi