EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The European Court of Human Rights sentenced the Turkish government to a monetary fine on the grounds of violations of a fair trial and an effective investigation in the case of Yunus Aysu.

As announced by the court on Tuesday (13 March), Aysu shall receive € 19,500 in compensation from the Turkish government.

The Aysu case

Aysu was being searched due to his alleged membership in the armed illegal Hizbullah organization. On 20 October 2000, he was taken into police custody in the course of an operation. Aysu killed one police officer in the clashes that occurred during the operation.

He was taken into police custody and brought to the Diyarbakır Police Directorate. He claimed to have been tortured there.

Aysu was kept in custody for ten days before he was arrested on 30 October 2000. He was tried before the Diyarbakır State Security Court (DGM) on charges of "the attempt to change the Constitution and membership in an illegal organization" according to Article 146 of the former Turkish Criminal Law.

On 27 May 2010, the Court of Appeals upheld the verdict for a life sentence handed down to Aysu.

In the meantime, Aysu had stated at the prosecutor's office and at court that he was "tortured in police custody and forced to sign his statement". Neither the court nor the prosecution took any action. Thereupon, Aysu applied again to the Diyarbakır Public Prosecution on 7 June 2007.

The Forensic Medicine Institute examined Aysu and also considered former reports of medical examinations. The institute concluded that the injury marks on his body "stemmed from falls and hard body impact". The criminal complaints about the police officers remained without result.

Thereupon, Aysu applied to the ECHR and the related decision was announced on 13 March 2012.

The ECHR ruled against a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights as far as ill-treatment in custody was concerned. The Strasbourg-based court decreed for violations of Articles 3 (investigation), 5/3 (length of detention) and 6/1 (right to a fair trial within a reasonable time) of the convention.

37-year-old Aysu is still being incarcerated at a Diyarbakır prison. The compensation of €19,500 for non-pecuniary damage shall be paid to him by the Turkish government within three months.

Turkey before the ECHR

The majority of judgements delivered by the European Court of Human Rights in 2011 concerned Turkey. These judgements were mainly based on applications regarding length of proceeding, right to liberty and security, lack of effective investigation, protection of property, inhuman or degrading treatment, non execution or right to a fair trial.

In 2011, Turkey was convicted by the ECHR in a total of 159 cases for at least one violation of the European Convention on Human Rights each. (AS)