ECtHR convicts Turkey for not letting a newspaper in prison

* Photo: ECtHR

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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has handed down its ruling regarding the application of Mehmet Çiftçi, who has been held in the high-security prison in Edirne province since 2002 and appealed to the court on the grounds that Atılım newspaper was not given to him in prison.

The ECtHR has concluded that preventing the distribution of Atılım newspaper in prisons violated freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The high court has also ruled that Turkey shall pay Mehmet Çiftçi 1,000 Euro (over 11,000 Turkish Lira) in non-pecuniary damages.

In contrast with top court's previous rulings

Çiftçi first applied to local courts on the grounds that Atılım newspaper was not given to him in prison; but these legal actions remained inconclusive. He appealed to the ECtHR against Turkey as a result.

Çifçi has said that he took the issue to Turkey's Constitutional Court as well; however, his application was rejected. Çiftçi has noted that this stands in contradiction with the previous rulings of the top court.

In another ruling in 2016, the Constitutional Court defined it as "arbitrariness" that some newspapers and magazines were not given to prisoners, noted that these practices varied depending on the charges against prisoners and prisons, concluding that freedom of expression was violated. (KÖ/SD)

* Source: BBC Türkçe