European Court: Turkish Kurdish MP's arrest was unlawful

According to Kurdistan, the European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling stating that Turkey violated the right to liberty by temporarily detaining Justice Kaya, the current representative of the People's Equality and Democracy Party in the country's parliament, on charges of membership in a terrorist organization in 2020, without reasonable suspicion and sufficient evidence.

According to a report by the Stockholm Center for Freedom, the European Court of Human Rights announced in a ruling that the Turkish courts did not provide evidence that would prove a clear link between Justice Kaya's activities and membership in a terrorist organization when issuing and extending the detention order.The case was filed on charges of links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK).

Edel Kaya, who now represents Diyarbakir in the Turkish parliament, was the head of the Rosa Women’s Association in Diyarbakir at the time of her arrest on May 22, 2020. Turkish police arrested her on charges of links to the PKK and KCK, and a court issued a provisional detention order for her the following day on charges of membership in an armed terrorist organization. Edel Kaya was released on August 18 of the same year pending trial.

The Stockholm Center for Freedom reported that the charges against Edel Kaya were based primarily on the Rosa Women’s Association’s alleged links to Kurdish women’s organizations, statements from an anonymous witness, her participation in rallies and press conferences, wiretapped phone conversations, and documents seized during inspections.The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the anonymous witness’s statements about the Rosa Women’s Association’s connection to the PKK were vague and unsubstantiated, and that there was no evidence that the association’s directors had acted on the orders of the PKK. The court also stressed that the Rosa Women’s Association was legally registered and that there was no evidence of illegal activity.

The court found that Justice Kaya’s speeches at rallies and press conferences fell within the right to freedom of expression and that the Rosa Women’s Association’s activities fell within the right to freedom of assembly and association. According to the court, the Turkish authorities had merely listed the events she had attended and the slogans raised at the events, but had not explained how these could support the charges against her.The court also expressed doubts about the authenticity of the documents seized from the Rosa Women's Association, including some publications, a placard and a handwritten note, stating that the seizure of publications and a cloth in yellow, red and green colors alone could not justify the suspicion that Justice Kaya was a member of a terrorist organization.

Justice Kaya was elected to the Turkish Parliament in the May 2023 elections; while her legal case was still ongoing. On March 4, 2024, Diyarbakır High Criminal Court No. 11 suspended the proceedings on the grounds of her parliamentary immunity.

The European Court of Human Rights ultimately ordered Turkey to pay Justice Kaya four thousand euros in compensation for non-pecuniary damage and one thousand euros in costs and legal expenses. The judgment was issued based on a violation of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to liberty and security of person.