ECtHR: Inmates Cannot be Transferred to Prisons Distant from Their Hometowns

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Concluding the applications of inmates Abdülkerim Avşar and Abdülkerim Tekin, who were transferred to Kırıkkale Prison against their will, European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) sentenced Turkey to pay six thousand euros of compensation to the inmates.

The Court ruled that "the obligation to respect for the protection of private and family life" was violated, the Mezopotamya Agency reported.

Avşar's lawyer Sidar Avşar applied to the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses in 2008 and demanded that his clients be transferred to a prison in one of the three provinces close to their residence on the grounds of health and distance and difficulties in visitation. The ECtHR ruled that the prison administration's arbitrary rejection also constitutes a rights violation.

"All detainees and convicts can apply for a transfer from their prison to a place close to their families," said Abdülkerim Avşar's attorney, Sidar Avşar, pointing out that the ECtHR decisions are binding for Turkey. Many of the political prisoners and convicts were sent away from their families.

"HDP's former co-chairpeople Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş and former HDP MPs such as Seben Tuncel, Selma Irmak, Çağlar Demirel, İdris Baluken, Abdullah Zeydan were sent to prisons 1,500 kilometers away from the first day of their detention. This decision affects them too. This decision will be binding on all prisoners." (TP/VK)