ECHR Condemns Turkey on Journalists Cases

ECHR condemned Turkey on three accounts involving the right to a fair hearing and to liberty and security. Mustafa Benli, editor and propriator of three political magazines had been imprisoned for being a member to an illegal organization by DGM in 1999.

Erol Önderoğlu

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned Turkey on three cases involving violation of right to a fair hearing and right to liberty and security.

The court released its decisions on 12 applications from Turkey on February 20.

One of the applicants, Mustafa Benli, the proprietor and editor-in-chief of the political magazines Hedef, Liseli Arkadaş and Alevi Halk Gerçeği was sentenced to 12 years and six months' imprisonment for being a member of the TDP (Turkish Revolution Party - Türkiye Devrim Partisi) in 1999.

The court condemned Turkey of violating Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, namely the right to a fair hearing.

Benli had been convicted by a State Security Court (DGM), which included a military judge at the time. The Strasbourg court rejected Benli's other claims regarding right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and freedom of expression.

On other accounts, Ayşe Oyman also received a positive result on her application for violation of the right to a fair hearing.

In April 2002 security forces searched the local office of the newspaper Yedinci Gündem, of which Oyman was the representative. In June 2002 she was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for distributing the newspaper in spite of a ban.

Lastly, the court condemned Turkey to 3 thousand euros in damages concerning the application of Osman Özçelik, former Deputy Chairman of the pro-Kurdish HADEP (People's Democratic Party).

The application concerns Özçelik's arrest and detention in police custody on 21 July 1999 during the course of a police operation carried out by the security forces against the pro-Kurdish guerilla group PKK.

Relying, in particular on Article 5 -right to liberty and security-, Özçelik complained that there was no reasonable suspicion for his arrest, that he was held in police custody without being brought before a judge and that he had no remedy under domestic law to challenge the lawfulness of his detention.

The case filed against Özçelik in Turkey with the allegation of "supporting the terrorist organization", had been put on hold with the law of general conditional pardon brought in 2002.(EÖ/EÜ)

Origin

BÄ°A News Center

Erol Önderoğlu

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A graduate of the French Language and Literature Department at İstanbul University. He has served as the Turkey representative for the international organization Reporters Without...

A graduate of the French Language and Literature Department at İstanbul University. He has served as the Turkey representative for the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where he began as a reporter in 1996. Since 1999, he has worked at bianet, a project of the IPS Communication Foundation, as the coordinator of the Legal Support Desk, editor for freedom of expression, and editor-in-chief. He has authored more than 4,800 signed news articles and opinion pieces. He has also written for Bizim Gazete and the journal Güncel Hukuk. He currently prepares the Media Monitoring Reports at bianet.