Selahattin Demirtaş: The conditions for a fair trial have been absent from the outset. And I know that just now three AKP people are trying an HDP person. I have no desire to make a defence.
At the afternoon hearing in the case in which the HDP’s Co-Chair at the time of the last parliament, Selahattin Demirtaş, is being held in pretrial detention, the court ordered the extension of Demirtaş's detention and adjourned the next hearing until 23-24-25 January.
The second day of the hearing in the case in which the HDP’s Co-Chair at the time of the last parliament, Selahattin Demirtaş, is being held in pretrial detention continued at the courtroom situated in the Sincan Prison Complex. The case being heard before Ankara Serious Crime Court No 19 consists of 31 case reports filed against him that were sent to parliament to secure the lifting of his immunity.
With five people from the eleven-person foreign delegation that arrived to monitor the proceedings being admitted to the hearing, six were denied admission on the grounds that they lacked accreditation. Permission to admit journalists was denied once more on the second day.
Selahattin Demirtaş, the former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was arrested in November 2016 on "terrorism" charges.
From the account given by Mezopotamya News Agency, Demirtaş first spoke about the application for recusal of the judges that both he and his lawyers made yesterday. Demirtaş said, “This court cannot act in this way towards us. If you do not recognize the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling, state this explicitly and say ‘ECtHR rulings are not binding on us.’ If nothing else, if only you had not ruled on your own partiality and had remitted this to Serious Crime Court No 20. You even ruled as to your own impartiality and did not remit this to the next senior court. You are blatantly committing a crime.”
Saying, “You are abusing your position and authority. You cannot deride my intelligence. I will not stand for this,” Demirtaş continued, “You are using the position of judge bestowed on you to purge me, my voters and my political identity and create a pro-rulership force. You disregard our objections. We have asked for the audio recording since the first hearing and you pass an interim decision dismissing the application since the transcript of the audio recording is the file. I say it is not my voice. I say my objection is audio related and you do not send for it. You are deriding my intelligence.”
Demirtaş declared, “If the ECtHR ruling was to be non-binding, why has the Justice Ministry been mounting a defence there for two years? It has emerged from this ruling that you are more political than I am. It has emerged that you are the ones engaging in politics in this courtroom, from your dismissal of the application for recusal. We would appear to be the most legally aware in this room. It is crisp and clear that the ECtHR ruling is binding on you. We have put up a legal battle for this ruling and do not consent to its flouting. I am obliged to stand up for the will I represent. If I had bowed to Erdoğan, I would be in the palace, not jail.”
Demirtaş continued, “I am here because I did not bow to Erdoğan and I will never bow to this lawlessness. You cannot make me bow, either. You cannot proceed with this trial in the way Erdoğan wishes, with the unlawful interim decisions you pass. End the trial. Look, I am not saying do not end it. Are 142 years sought? If you hand down 141 years, I will be slighted. I am not joking. I fear nobody apart from God. But I will not let you trample on my honour here.”
From the account given by Gazete Duvar, Demirtaş continued his address as follows:
“Is the AKP trying me, or the judges? Disregarding ECtHR rulings is the AKP’s approach. You act in accordance with what is whispered to you. How come you pass a decision in one sentence dismissing a defence made over five hours? How come you draft a decision without reasons? You must draft it with the reasons. If the ECtHR ruling is not a valid reason, either, do we have to catch you at the AKP organization or at its meetings? How else are we to prove that a judge is acting politically? Where are we to bring you plainer proof of this from? The European Court of Human Rights can overturn a ruling of the Constitutional Court, can it not? So, it is a court senior to the Constitutional Court. There is absolutely no other court. You are acting as if this ruling did not exist. If only you had put something in writing about taking the ECtHR ruling seriously. It is most distressing. I feel that my honour has been slighted. This is not just some matter of procedure. If possible, I would like to finish today and go, and not come again.”
“The conditions for a fair trial have been absent from the outset. And I know that just now three AKP people are trying an HDP person. This is what I sense. I am telling you with all my sincerity. And this hurts me. I have no desire to make a defence. I have evidence and no wish to submit it. What am I to tell you? What else can I submit attesting to my innocence? It is troubling. It is really also the most upsetting. I have been on trial for two years and you have issued a whole host of interim decisions. I read yesterday’s interim decision and was troubled. Yesterday’s interim decision is a huge insult. I will go and spend my life in jail, but I will not stand for such an insult. This must be corrected today. We need to discuss whether you recognize the violation of Article 18 as per the ECtHR. You are challenging the ECtHR. You are challenging the laws. You say, ‘The laws are not binding on us.’ Alija Izetbegović said, “Calling for harsh penalties where there is no evidence becomes evidence itself.” You have no inclination to release Demirtaş. The people will say, ‘Well, in that case, why did you detain him and try him?’ I am sufficiently politically and legally aware to know this.” (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Hediye Levent
Yusuf Karadaş
Yücel Özdemir