ECHR Ignores Torture Footage

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Turkey guilty in three different cases, ordering the Turkish state to pay applicants a sum of 53,500 euros.

The European Court of Human Rights did not find Turkey guilty of violating torture ban in  a case where police assaulted Cüneyt Ertuş, who was 15 at the time, by bending his arm and insulting. Instead, the court found Turkey guilty for poor investigation.

2 different reports from 4 different doctors

The case of Cüneyt Ertuş concerned his alleged ill-treatment by the police on 22 March 2008 when he had been detained in Hakkari at the age of 15 years old at the time. 

Mr Ertuş submitted a video, where he is seen crying in the street, as a police officer holds his arm behind his back and then twists it so that he bends forward. The footage shows at least 4 policemen. 

His parents filed a criminal complaint against the officers involved in the arrest, but the Hakkari public prosecutor decided not to bring criminal proceedings. 

Hakkari Forensics Institute also filed a non-damage report to Ertuş the day after the incident, saying that he had no sign of bruise or damage. 

On March 25, he was arrested. Before being taken to prison, he was examined by a doctor at the Hakkari State Hospital, who noted no signs of ill-treatment on his body.

On 28 March 2008 the applicant’s parents filed a criminal complaint against the police officers. On the same day the applicant was taken to the Hakkari State Hospital for a medical examination. The doctors reported an old scar measuring 2 x 1 cm on his vertex (the top of his head) as a result of an earlier fall, and a scabbed wound of 2 x 1 cm on the second phalanx (finger bone) of his right hand index finger.

On 31 March 2008 he was examined again, this time by the prison doctor, who confirmed the damages.

An objection by Mr Ertuş against this decision and a claim for compensation were both dismissed. In June 2010, he was acquitted of the charges of taking part in an illegal demonstration, brought against him in May 2008, due to a lack of evidence. Relying in particular on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Mr Ertuş complained that he had been ill-treated during his arrest, and that his allegations had not been properly investigated by the Turkish authorities.

On 9 May 2008 the applicant lodged an objection with the Van Assize Court challenging the decision of the Hakkari public prosecutor dated 17 April 2008. He alleged that he had been subjected to ill-treatment during his arrest and submitted the medical report of 8 May 2008 in support of his allegations.

In May 2009 Ertuş lodged a claim with the Van Administrative Court for compensation in respect of the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage he had suffered on account of his ill-treatment on 22 March 2008. On 3 May 2010 that claim was dismissed.

The family applied to Human Rights Association in Izmir province. A medical examination observed traces of old injuries as well as PTSD. The family applied to ECHR. 

In the verdict announced today, the court did not find Turkey guilty of violating torture ban in  a case where police assaulted the applicant by turning his arm. Instead, the court found Turkey guilty for poor investigation. Turkey will pay 5,000 euros to Ertuş as non-pecuniary damages and 2,000 euros for court expenses. 

Turkey convicted of police violence in 2 cases 

The second case concerned ill-treatment allegedly inflicted on Mesut Deniz, following his arrest on 5 October 1999. 

Deniz alleged that the police subjected him to ill-treatment, including giving him electric shocks, hanging him by his arms, beating him severely, twisting and squeezing his penis and making him lie on an icy surface. 

Police authorities reported that Deniz threw himself out of window.  

An investigation was launched by a prosecutor in 2000, and a police officer was charged, but he was eventually acquitted in September 2007. Mr Deniz attempted to appeal the decision, but the Turkish courts refused to allow him to do so because he had not made himself a civil party to proceedings. 

Relying in particular on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), Deniz complained that he had been subjected to ill-treatment while in police custody, that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into these allegations and that he had therefore been denied the opportunity to claim compensation.

ECHR found Turkey guilty and ordered to pay the applicant 40,000 euros. 

And the last case concerned Kamuran Tüzün who applied to ECHR due to a police violence in May 2006. 

Police conducted a drugs search of the house of the brother of Tüzün’s fiancée, while Tüzün was present. 

According to the police report, he injured two police officers while resisting arrest and then injured himself by falling into a door. Tüzün denied that he had resisted arrest, claiming that he had been beaten and injured by officers when they had arrested him during the search.

The prosecutor decided not to issue proceedings against the officers, and Tüzün’s objection to this decision was dismissed in January 2007.The court ruled that Turkey failed to investigate the case adequately, finding Turkey guilty of Convention Article 3 on torture ban. Turkey will pay 6,500 euros to Tüzün. (AS/BM)

* Click here to read the original article in Turkish.