Implementation of the European Court of Human Rights judgments concerning the victims of politically motivated prosecutions.

European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments have great potential to protect human rights, including the right to freedom of expression. However, the judgments can only have meaningful impact if they are properly implemented.  

Writer and former co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey, Selahattin Demirtaş, and publisher and human rights activist Osman Kavala have been held in detention since 2016 and 2017, respectively.  The European Court of Human Rights has not only found that their rights to liberty and security were violated, but also ruled that Demirtaş’s and Kavala’s detentions had “pursued the ulterior purpose of stifling pluralism and limiting freedom of political debate, which is at the very core of the concept of a democratic society”. 

Despite the rulings of the ECtHR and the decisions of the Committee of Ministers (CoM) urging Turkey to implement the Court’s rulings and to release Demirtaş and Kavala, the Turkish government has avoided implementing the judgments and has not released them. 

The next human rights meeting of the CoM, at which the examination of the implementation of Selahattin Demirtaş v. Turkey and Osman Kavala v. Turkey judgments resumes, is on 30 November-2 December 2021.   

Ahead of the upcoming CoM meeting, in this event, experts will discuss the recurring problem of non-implementation of the ECtHR judgments, with a focus on Selahattin Demirtaş v. Turkey and Osman Kavala v. Turkey, and answer a number of key questions: 

– What does the principle of subsidiarity mean in the ECtHR’s jurisprudence and how does it interplay with the binding nature of the judgments?  

– How should the CoM address the ongoing problem of the misuse of the criminal procedure to secure detention and avoid the implementation?  

– What are the measures CoM could take against a country which repeatedly refuses to implement a judgment? 

– If the CoM triggers infringement proceedings against Turkey in the upcoming meeting, what would be the implications for Turkey? 

Join us on Thursday, 25 November 2021 to explore these questions and more. 

Chair: 

Can Yeğinsu, Trustee of English PEN and Barrister at 4 New Square Chambers 

Speakers:  

Başak Çalı, Professor of International Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School  

Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey Director at Human Rights Watch  

Rıza Mahmut Türmen, Former Judge for Turkey at the ECtHR 

English-Turkish simultaneous interpretation will be provided. There will be opportunity for audience members to pose questions to the panel via Q&A feature during the webinar. 

Registration is required to attend this online event. Participants will receive login information upon approved registration before the event. 

For more information, please contact [email protected] 

This event is organised by English PEN in partnership with PEN International. 

Images:

Selahattin Demirtaş credit Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)

Osman Kavala credit Kerem Uzel