‘Return to Life’ Judgement by ECtHR: How Women Were Burned Not Unveiled for 18 Years

Announcing its judgement on Dinçer, whose face and body were burned during the “Return to Life Operation” in Bayrampaşa Prison, the ECtHR has sentenced Turkey to pay 20 thousand Euro in non-pecuniary damages for “violating the prohibition of torture”.

Ayça Söylemez

‘Return to Life’ Judgement by ECtHR: How Women Were Burned Not Unveiled for 18 Years

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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has announced its judgement regarding the application of Ebru Dinçer, whose body and face were burned during the "Return to Life Operation" that was launched in Bayrampaşa Prison in İstanbul on December 19, 2000.

The court has ruled that Turkey has violated the "prohibition of torture" and sentenced the country to pay 20 thousand Euro (approx. 121 thousand Turkish Lira) in non-pecuniary damages.

How inmates were burned still being investigated

The court case regarding the Return to Life Operation, which was conducted as part of "the Deluge" (Tufan) plan against the inmates of Bayrampaşa Prison with the aim of ending their hunger strikes in protest against the state's plan to transfer them to Type-F prisons holding one to three inmates, has been continuing at the Bakırköy 13th Heavy Penal Court.

In the lawsuit filed against the soldiers participating in the operation, which claimed the lives of 12 inmates of Bayrampaşa Prison, the court previously ruled that the clothes of the inmates who were burnt to death or severely injured in the ensuing fire should be sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute for a chemical analysis. Preparing a report based on its analysis, the Institute stated that the only chemical agent detected on the clothes was pepper gas.

"We don't know what the Institute analyzed"

Speaking to bianet, attorney Güçlü Sevimli emphasized that the sample numbers of the clothes sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute for analysis and the sample numbers indicated in the case file do not overlap. Sevimli said that they did not know what the Institute analyzed:

"That the report concluded that no chemical agents were identified on the materials does not mean that no chemicals were used in the prison. The objects that were not subjected to the operation might have been sent to the Institution. The duty of the experts there is limited to analyzing the objects that they receive. We do not know which objects were sent to them."

In both the examination conducted at the scene of incident and the report prepared by the Forensic Medicine Institute after the post-mortem examination, it was indicated that chemical substances were detected. However, no further research has been done on this report.

ECtHR: No evidence provided for 18 years

In its judgement announced today (January 29), the ECtHR emphasized that the related court case has not been concluded for the last 18 years:

"In the Court's view, only an investigation or an effective procedure could allow the cause of the fire to be determined.

"However, nearly 18 years after the facts, the criminal proceedings were still pending in the Bakırköy Assize Court and the circumstances in which the fire started in Ms Dinçer's cell had not been established.

"The proceedings conducted thus far had still not given rise to any evidence that could justify the applicant's injuries, namely by showing that the violence which had led to Ms Dinçer's physical and mental suffering had been made inevitable by her own conduct. Consequently, the Court found that there had been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention."

The court has ruled that Turkey has violated the prohibition of torture as per the Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and sentenced the country to pay 20,000 Euro in non-pecuniary damages.

What happened?

During the week of December 19-26, 2000, 10,000 soldiers occupied 48 prisons to end two months of hunger strikes and "death fasts" by hundreds of political prisoners. The hunger strikers were protesting the state's plan to transfer its prisoners from large wards to the US-style "F-type" cells holding one to three inmates

Operation "Return to Life" -- which left at least 31 prisoners and two soldiers dead -- lasted a few hours in most prisons, and up to three days at one prison. Eight prisoners were reportedly "disappeared", and at least 426 prisoners were wounded.

The first lawsuit regarding the "Return to Life Operation" conducted in Bayrampaşa Prison was filed in 2010, ten years after the incident.

The indictment against 37 private soldiers and two non-commissioned officers was filed by Eyüp Public Prosecutor's Office and the ensuing court case has been continuing at the Bakırköy 13th Heavy Penal Court.

After the official document entitled "The Deluge (Tufan) Operation Order", according to which the operation was conducted in Bayrampaşa Prison, was submitted to court, the second court case was filed against 157 members of the gendarmerie for "homicide" and "homicidal attempt" in March 2015.

(AS/SD)

Ayça Söylemez

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Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü mezunu. Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi Sosyoloji bölümünde yüksek lisans yaptı. Marmara Üniversitesi İletişim Bilimleri’nde doktora yapıyor. Vatan, Akşam, HaberTürk ve Hürriyet gazetelerinin yazıişleri ve dış haberler bölümünde çalıştı. Güncel Hukuk dergisinde yazıları yayınlandı. BirGün’de Anonim adlı köşeyi yazıyor. 2011’den bu yana bianet’te İnsan Hakları Editörü.