Yuksekdag and Demirtas, co-leaders of the HDP, and a number of other MPs were arrested last November after the Turkish parliament voted earlier in the year to lift parliamentary immunity from a select group of MPs, many of whom have been accused by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the president of having ties with the banned PKK, a charge the HDP has vehemently denied.



A Turkish court sentenced Demirtas to five months in jail on Tuesday for “insulting Turkish nation, the state of Turkish Republic and public organs and institutions,” Anadolu reported, citing a judicial source.





It had been previously reported that prosecutors in Turkey recommended in an indictment that Demirtas and Yuksekdag, should serve 43 to 142 and 30 to 83 years in prison, respectively, in line with the scope of a “terror case.”



It was not clear after Tuesday if Demirtas’ five-month sentence would fulfill the punishment for the charges he has been facing.



HDP lawmaker Idris Baluken was also re-arrested on Tuesday on charges alleging him to be a member of an armed terror organization and of disrupting the unity of the state and country, according to several media agencies.



An HDP delegation filed an application at the European Court of Human Rights on Monday regarding the continued detention of Demirtas and Yuksekdag.



The official HDP stated that the co-chairs’ continued imprisonment “constitutes a violation of the right to freedom and security, freedom of speech and the right to free elections as protected by both the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights — and that the situation is particularly critical as Turkey is now heading for a referendum on April 16.”



Parliamentary immunity for parliamentarians was lifted in Turkey in May 2016 after a constitutional amendment was approved by parliament, allowing the Turkish state to investigate MPs for criminal or terrorist connections and prosecute accordingly.



