Ousted CHP mayor applies to Turkish top court citing human rights violations, prolonged detention

Lawyers for detained and ousted Mayor Ahmet Özer from the main opposition CHP petitioned Turkey’s Constitutional Court, citing violations of basic rights and prolonged detention without an indictment.

Monday January 06 2025 04:19 pm

Duvar English

The ousted mayor of the Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ahmet Özer, has filed an individual application with the country's highest appellate court regarding his detention process.

Özer's attorneys, Hasan Sınar and Hüseyin Ersöz, made a statement in front of the Constitutional Court (AYM) building. Attorney Hasan Sınar said, "We demand an immediate end to this unjust and unlawful process. Our request for an indictment regarding our client has not been fulfilled for 2.5 months. We expect the prosecution to prepare this indictment promptly and allow us to defend our client’s rights before an independent and impartial Turkish judiciary."

One attorney stated that the process began with “an unjust detention, followed by unlawful searches conducted at the municipality, his home, and his vehicle, culminating in his arrest.”

Subsequently, the lawyers have filed several petitions asserting that the continuation of his detention was evaluated unlawfully. “All these developments have evolved into a process that we can fundamentally assess as a violation of basic rights and freedoms,” he added.

The lawyers aimed the application to bring attention to the violations of fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Constitution and international conventions and to request that the AYM render a decision on Özer’s detention.

“Our primary demand is for this review to be conducted and for the necessary steps and decisions to be taken to end the ongoing violation of the right to freedom," they concluded.

As part of an investigation led by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, 11 individuals detained for alleged connections with Mayor Özer have been jailed on charges of "membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist organization” on Dec. 17.

Özer was removed from office and replaced by a government-appointed trustee during the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) recent crackdown on opposition mayors.