HDP to protest outside Turkish prison over former lawmaker’s ongoing detention

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) are to demonstrate outside of a Turkish prison holding a former HDP lawmaker over his ongoing detention, the party tweeted on Sunday.

HDP members are to gather on Monday morning in front of Sincan Prison, where former MP Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu is being held, over his delayed release.

"We will continue to fight everywhere against the rebels who do not implement the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Constitutional Court," the party tweeted.

Gergerlioglu was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail in 2018 on charges of making propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in connection with a 2016 tweet about how to peacefully end the decades-long conflict between the PKK, an armed group fighting for increased Kurdish rights, and the Turkish state.

Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that his "right to be elected and engage in political activities," as well as "the right to liberty and security," have been violated, a local news outlet reported. The news was also tweeted by Gergerlioglu’s son, but the former lawmaker remains in jail. 

The top court reportedly ruled that appropriate steps must be taken by Kocaeli Heavy Penal Court- which handed down the original sentence- so his release can be initiated.

'The Constitutional Court has given a ruling of 'right violation' for my father. My father is going to be released; he is going to be released,” his son Salih tweeted.

Gergerlioglu’s legal team was not made aware of the new ruling, his lawyer Bisar Alinak told the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya Agency on Saturday.

"The court made a decision, and it was hidden from us," he said, describing the delay in his client’s release as “foolish.”

The HDP has been subject to a government crackdown for its alleged links to the PKK, links which the party denies. Scores of its members and politicians have been arrested in recent years on terror charges. There is an ongoing trial for the party's closure following the submission of an indictment which also seeks a political ban on hundreds of party members.