On the seventh anniversary of the imprisonment of former pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and three other organisations have called on Turkey to release them.

“The seventh anniversary of the unlawful incarceration of Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ is a stark reminder of the Erdoğan presidency’s willingness to use detention for political ends to silence democratically elected opposition politicians representing millions of Kurdish and leftist voters in Turkey,” HRW Europe and Central Asia Director Hugh Williamson said.

The rights groups have urged Turkey to implement the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordering the release of the political prisoners, highlighting their “wrongful imprisonment”.

Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ were arrested in November 2016 along with several other top level HDP officials on charges of «terrorism» , followed in 2018 by charges for inciting a series of demonstrations dubbed the Kobanê Protests.

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers have repeatedly called for their release.

Ayşe Bingöl Demir, director of the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project has asked the Committee to “intensify its scrutiny against Turkey in relation to these cases without further delay”, when the ministers meet for their December session. “This must include the triggering of infringement proceedings,” Demir added.

Eighteen other elected former members of the HDP and the Democratic Regions Party are also currently detained, the statement noted.

The Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project, the International Commission of Jurists, and the International Federation for Human Rights also joined the call for the prisoners’ release.