ECHR Condemns Turkey Regarding Use of Pepper Gas in Peaceful Protest

Ali Güneş is a teacher, who filed a complaint after he was sprayed with pepper gas at close range during the NATO summit protests in Istanbul in 2004. His petition was ignored by the authorities.

He went to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) with his complaint and now the court condemned Turkey to pay damages amounting to 11 500 euro to him.

After being sprayed with pepper gas by the police, Güneş was taken under custody and held for 11 hours. He was physically abused during the process. A coroner's report stated that there were bruises on his upper body and his eyes were harmed by the pepper gas.

The public prosecutor's office ruled that an investigation into Güneş's complaints was not necessary. An appeal to the court also did not provide any results.

Güneş, who is a member of the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers (Eğitim-Sen) applied to ECHR. The Strasbourg court ruled that the conduct of the police amounted to a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which bans torture and mal treatment.  At the ruling, the court noted that pepper gas causes respiratory problems, dizziness, throwing up, chest pains and spasms. High doses could harm lungs. The police should refrain from using pepper gas during peaceful protests, the court said.

Responding to a parliamentary petition, the Minister of Interior Idris Naim Şahin said that the police use tear gas that doesn't cause permanent harm.

On another account, the case regarding the death of a protester, Metin Lokumcu, during a protest of the PM's visit to Hopa is still continuing. It's argued that excessive use of tear gas caused Lokumcu's death. (AS/EÜ)