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European Court of Human Rights Pressures Turkey to Release Demirtaş

Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, during an interview with Reuters in Ankara, July 30, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, during an interview with Reuters in Ankara, July 30, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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European Court of Human Rights Pressures Turkey to Release Demirtaş

Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, during an interview with Reuters in Ankara, July 30, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, during an interview with Reuters in Ankara, July 30, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) continues to call on Turkey to release Selahattin Demirtaş.

The court, which previously ruled for Demirtaş's immediate release, asked whether the imprisonment is based on reasonable doubt, grounds and time, as well as whether it violates the right to freedom of expression.

In other questions, the rights court asked Turkey whether his arrest was politically motivated and whether Article 18 of the European Convention of Human Rights was violated through his arrest.

The ECHR also questioned whether Turkey's top court is an effective legal means in Demirtaş's case.

Ramazan Demir, one of Demirtaş's lawyers, said that the defense request came due to the Constitutional Court's delay in issuing a ruling on Demirtaş's imprisonment.

"These questions are asked for the first time in this case and it's very significant," Demir tweeted on Feb. 1.

Another lawyer, Benan Molu, said that the ECHR asked whether Turkey's top court looked into the politician's appeal that was submitted on Nov. 7, 2019.

According to the ECHR's Grand Chamber, Demirtaş's pre-trial detention since Nov. 4, 2016 had sent "a dangerous message to the entire population" that sharply narrowed free democratic debate.

Demirtaş faces a sentence of up to 142 years in prison if convicted of being the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) over his actions during the Kobane protests in 2014.

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South Korea's Opposition Party Vows to Impeach Acting President

FILED - 04 November 2022, South Korea, Seoul: South Korean Prime Minister Duck-Soo Han meets with representatives of the South Korean and German business communities at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
FILED - 04 November 2022, South Korea, Seoul: South Korean Prime Minister Duck-Soo Han meets with representatives of the South Korean and German business communities at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
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South Korea's Opposition Party Vows to Impeach Acting President

FILED - 04 November 2022, South Korea, Seoul: South Korean Prime Minister Duck-Soo Han meets with representatives of the South Korean and German business communities at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
FILED - 04 November 2022, South Korea, Seoul: South Korean Prime Minister Duck-Soo Han meets with representatives of the South Korean and German business communities at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

South Korea’s main liberal opposition party said Tuesday it will seek to impeach acting leader Han Duck-soo, as Seoul grapples with the turmoil set off when impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol made a short-lived declaration of martial law.
The country’s political parties are now tussling over how to run investigations into that decision, as well as separate allegations against Yoon's wife, The Associated Press reported.
The opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, wants independent investigators, and gave Han until Tuesday to approve bills appointing them.
Impeaching Han would further deepen political chaos and worries by neighboring countries. Han, the country’s No. 2 official, has taken over the president's powers since Yoon’s impeachment. If he’s impeached too, the finance minister is next in line.
The Democratic Party has slammed Han for vetoing several opposition-sponsored bills, including a controversial agriculture bill. It also urged Han to quickly appoint justices to vacant seats on the Constitutional Court, which is reviewing Yoon’s impeachment and will determine whether to dismiss or reinstate him.
Filling the Constitutional Court’s three empty posts could make conviction more likely, as it requires the support of six of the court’s possible full nine members.
The Democratic Party demanded that Han approve bills calling for special prosecutors to investigate Yoon for rebellion over his marital law decree, and his wife for corruption and other allegations, by Tuesday.
Han didn’t put the bills on the agendas for Tuesday’s Cabinet Council meeting, calling for the ruling and opposition parties to negotiate more.
Democratic Party floor leader Park Chan-dae responded that there's no room for negotiations about a Yoon investigation, and that his party would begin steps toward an impeachment at once.
“We’ve clearly warned that it’s totally up to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo whether he would go down in history as a disgraceful figure as a puppet of rebellion plot leader Yoon Suk Yeol or a public servant that has faithfully carried out the orders by the public,” Park told a televised party meeting.
South Korean prosecutors and other officials are separately probing whether Yoon committed rebellion and abuse of power, but he’s ignored requests by investigative agencies to appear for questioning and allow searches of his office.
Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and several other senior military commanders have already been arrested over the deployment of troops and police officers to the National Assembly, which prompted a dramatic standoff that ended when lawmakers managed to enter the chamber and voted unanimously to overrule Yoon's decree.
The governing People Power Party said that the opposition's impeachment threats are interfering with Han’s “legitimate exercise of authority." Floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, a Yoon loyalist, said the Democratic Party’s “politics of intimidation have reached their peak.”
An impeachment vote would face legal ambiguities. Most South Korean officials can be impeached with a simple majority of parliament, but impeaching the presidents takes two-thirds. The rival parties differ on which standard would apply to an acting president.
The Democratic Party controls 170 of the National Assembly's 300 seats, so it would need support from members of other parties including Yoon's own to get a two-thirds majority.
The Constitutional Court has up to six months to determine Yoon's fate. If he's thrown of office, a national election to find his successor must take place within two months.