The jailed co-chairman of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) refused to attend a court hearing in the capital Ankara on Friday because police told him he would have to be handcuffed, his party said.
"Demirtaş stated he was still a member of parliament, that his parliamentary immunity continued and that he would not go to the hearing if he were put in handcuffs. When the Gendarmerie Section Commander stated that they could not take him unless he was handcuffed, Demirtaş returned to his room", said HDP in a statement.
DEMİRTAŞ: 'WE WILL RESIST INJUSTICE'
Selahattin Demirtaş, held at a prison in the northwestern province of Edirne, sent a letter after he refused to attend court in handcuffs.
"Even on a case, I am not under arrest for, I was denied my right to fair trial. As for my case pending trial, the hearing date and the court that I will be prosecuted, is still unclear although it has been eight months. We will stand up to injustice either way, and we will protect the honour of the people's will that we represent," Demirtaş said.
More than a dozen HDP lawmakers, including the party's former co-leader Figen Yüksekdağ, have been jailed, mostly due to suspected links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Prosecutors want Demirtaş jailed for 142 years and Yüksekdağ for up to 83 years on charges of terrorist propaganda. Demirtaş was sentenced in February for "insulting the Turkish people, the government and state institutions".
