Written declaration No. 532 | Doc. 13044 | 07 February 2013

Detained MPs

Signatories: Ms Gülsün BİLGEHAN, Turkey ; Mr Deniz BAYKAL, Turkey ; Ms Maryvonne BLONDIN, France ; Ms Sílvia Eloïsa BONET PEROT, Andorra ; Ms Lise CHRISTOFFERSEN, Norway ; Mr Arcadio DÍAZ TEJERA, Spain ; Mr Gvozden Srećko FLEGO, Croatia ; Mr György FRUNDA, Romania ; Mr Andreas GROSS, Switzerland ; Ms Carina HÄGG, Sweden ; Mr Andrej HUNKO, Germany ; Ms Susanna HUOVINEN, Finland ; Mr Haluk KOÇ, Turkey ; Mr Igor KOLMAN, Croatia ; Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands ; Mr Ertuğrul KÜRKÇÜ, Turkey ; Mr Philippe MAHOUX, Belgium ; Mr Pietro MARCENARO, Italy ; Ms Liliane MAURY PASQUIER, Switzerland ; Mr Michael McNAMARA, Ireland ; Mr Jean-Pierre MICHEL, France ; Ms Federica MOGHERINI REBESANI, Italy ; Ms Melita MULIĆ, Croatia ; Ms Carina OHLSSON, Sweden ; Mr Grigore PETRENCO, Republic of Moldova ; Mr René ROUQUET, France ; Mr Ludo SANNEN, Belgium ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria ; Mr Yanaki STOILOV, Bulgaria ; Lord John E. TOMLINSON, United Kingdom ; Mr Klaas de VRIES, Netherlands ; Ms Gisela WURM, Austria

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

We, the undersigned, deplore in the strongest terms the continued detention of eight deputies elected to the Turkish Grand National Assembly in the 12 June 2011 elections. We stand in solidarity with them.

The eight deputies coming from three different political parties are all still in custody due to ongoing court cases against them. Several of them have been incarcerated for nearly three years.

We view the situation of our colleagues in Turkey with grave concern. Their treatment is in contradiction with the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) regarding “deprivation of liberty” and with its First Protocol regarding “the right to vote and be elected”.

Furthermore, this state of affairs is also in violation of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), regarding the right to participate in political life.

Their detention constitutes a transgression of “their right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty” as enshrined in the ICCPR and the ECHR.

We urge all those concerned in Turkey to create those conditions that would allow these rightfully elected deputies to perform their parliamentary duties bestowed on them by the will of the people.