Euro court fines Turkey in two cases

STRASBOURG

The European Court of Human Rights ruled against Turkey in two cases for 11,900 euros and 8,800 euros of non-peculiar damages, regarding excessive length of pre-trial detentions and legal proceedings.

The court ruled in favor of the applicants, Mehmet Hasdemir and Hatice Duman who both applied to the ECHR for violation of article 5 the Convention, which is regarding the right to liberty, security and right to have the lawfulness of detention decided speedily by a court.

In the Hasdemir case, Turkey was found guilty for ending the trial 11 years after the suspect’s detention.
“The applicant, Mehmet Hasdemir, was detained in May 2000...He was ultimately convicted in December 2011 and sentenced to life imprisonment,” read the European court’s verdict that was pronounced on May 22.

It also ruled on Hatice Duman, who was first detained in 2003. According to the decision, Duman was put in jail in April 2003 on suspicion of membership of an illegal organization, the Marxist-Leninist Communist party, however she was only charged in 2011.