Euro Court finds Turkish singer rightful in appeal

STRASBOURG

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled a violation of the “right to have lawfulness of detention decided speedily by a court” occurred in the case of a famous Turkish singer who was detained for seven months without being offered the right to be heard by any court over charges on drug use and providing drugs to third persons.

Pop artist Deniz Seki, who was detained on Feb. 24, 2009, on drug-related charges, was found rightful in her complaint of “not being able to appear before a court when their pre-trial detention was reviewed.” However, since Seki “did not submit a claim for just satisfaction within the time-limit set by the court,” there were no pecuniary or non-pecuniary damages to be paid to her from Turkish authorities, according to the ruling.

Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals had approved Seki’s conviction for drug trafficking in June 2014 and sent the file to the prosecution for the execution of the 75-month prison sentence, which was meted out earlier by the Istanbul 13th Court of Serious Crimes. Seki is expected to leave prison by the end of 2017.