The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that Turkey violated the rights of Selahattin Demirta? and Figen Yüksekda?, former co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) who have been imprisoned since 2016 on terrorism-related charges, by failing to respect the confidentiality of their interviews with their lawyers.
Judgment Demirtas and Yüksekdag Senoglu v. Türkiye – Failure to respect the confidentiality of meetings between the applicants and their lawyershttps://t.co/90btvKtZwZ#ECHR #CEDH #ECHRpress pic.twitter.com/faWCZDfnbq
— ECHR CEDH (@ECHR_CEDH) June 6, 2023
Demirta? and Yüksekda? alleged that the authorities monitored their conversations with their lawyers and seized documents exchanged between them.
The ECtHR, in a majority decision of six votes to one, held that the authorities failed to demonstrate exceptional circumstances justifying the infringement of the principle of confidentiality of the applicants’ interviews with their lawyers. The violation of this principle prevented the effective assistance of their lawyers, thus failing to meet the requirements of Article 5 § 4 (right to a speedy decision on the lawfulness of detention) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court further noted that the restrictions imposed lacked sufficient safeguards against abuse.
The case originated from the arrest of Demirta? and Yüksekda? in November 2016 on terrorism-related charges. The applicants lodged individual applications with the ECtHR, arguing that their rights to liberty and security had been violated. The court had previously ruled, in December 2020 and November 2022, that their pretrial detentions were contrary to various articles of the convention.
The court emphasized that the confidentiality of conversations between the defendant and their defense counsel is a fundamental right directly related to the rights of the defense and that any derogation from this principle should only be permitted in exceptional cases and must be accompanied by adequate safeguards against abuse.
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