Breaking News: Statement from Yılmaz Tunç on Selahattin Demirtaş! 'The ECHR's decision...'

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç made statements regarding the final decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) concerning Selahattin Demirtaş. Stating that the process regarding the matter is ongoing, Tunç said, "The decision is before the court, we will all wait together."

Minister Tunç used the following expressions in his statement:

"Has the ECHR decision regarding Selahattin Demirtaş reached the appellate court? You know, this is not the only decision of the European Court of Human Rights. I mean, there is the Öcalan decision in the past, and there is the Kavala decision. There are also those whose discussions continue in the Committee of Ministers. The case here regarding Demirtaş is the Kobani Case. As you all know, Demirtaş and his associates were convicted on May 16, 2024, at the Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court. Some defendants also received fixed-term prison sentences and acquittals. The case filed against the instigator of the Kobani incidents was concluded at the 22nd High Criminal Court. Now, this is being heard at the 22nd Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice.

Here, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the right to liberty and security was violated. The European Court of Human Rights 2nd Section issued a violation decision on the application made on the grounds that Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights was violated due to violations regarding detention and allegations. There were discussions in the public sphere about whether this section decision would be appealed or not.

In these processes, we want section decisions to be discussed by the Grand Chamber. Before going to the Grand Chamber, there is a 5-member panel. This panel said, 'There is no need for it to be discussed,' and the section decision became final in this sense. The section decision will now be evaluated by the 22nd Criminal Chamber of the Regional Court of Justice.

A generalization is being made that we are a country that does not comply with the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. This is not true. All countries have decisions they do not comply with. The average compliance rate of countries that are parties to the European Convention on Human Rights is 79 percent. Turkey's compliance rate is 91 percent.

Some cases in Turkey are highly politicized, especially from the outside. By highlighting those politicized cases, a perception campaign is being conducted as if Turkey does not comply with any of the European Court of Human Rights decisions.

A verdict was given at the first instance, and this verdict continues as a presumption of innocence at the appellate stage. Therefore, the evaluation here is currently before the court. We will all wait together to see what the court will decide."

News Source: 12punto