Euro court fines Turkey 85,000 euros for violating right to life

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Judges of the European Court of Human Rights attend an audience for the reassembly of the European court of Human rights on January 25, 2013 in Strasbourg, eastern France. AFP PHOTO/FREDERICK FLORIN

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) March.12 fined Turkey 85,000 euros in relation to the case of a civilian who was killed by a Gendarmerie officer’s shot while waiting at a bus stop in the southeastern province of Siirt in 2005.

Abdullah Aydan, in his 30s, was hit in the head by a bullet shot by a Gendarmerie officer, identified as G.Y., allegedly as a crowd gathered for a demonstration in the city of Siirt, in support of the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan, who remains in prison.

The court fined Turkey for violating Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, concerning the right to life.

In addition, it found that the right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time was also violated in Ayhan’s case.

The court decided that Turkey was to pay 15,000 euros to the applicants in compensation for pecuniary damage, 50,000 euros to A. Aydan’s widow, 15,000 euros to his mother in compensation for non-pecuniary damage, and 5,000 euros to the applicants to cover legal costs and expenses.