Turkey fined 60,000 euros by ECHR for ill-treatment of minors

STRASBOURG

REUTERS Photo

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has fined Turkey 60,000 euros in fine for non-pecuniary damage in a lawsuit launched by two applicants for ill-treatment in detention in 2002, after they took a neighbor who had been shot in the street to hospital when they were minors. The ECHR also fined Turkey 5,600 euros for costs and expenses.

According to their submissions to the court, the applicants, Ferdi and Atilla Uğur, who were born in 1985 and 1987 respectively and who today live in Istanbul, took a neighbor who had been shot in the street to hospital on Nov. 23, 2002.

The man died on arrival, and the two minors were then taken to a police station, where they were to be questioned as witnesses.

“They maintain that they were then kept there for more than two days, were questioned in the absence of a lawyer, and were ill-treated by the police in order to force them to make incriminatory statements about their implication in the incident,” said a resolution by the ECHR on Jan. 13.

“In particular, they submit that they were stripped naked, doused with cold water, kicked, punched and beaten with truncheons,” it added.

A Turkish government submission confirmed that the minors had been questioned, but questioning the credibility of the two brothers due to contradicting testimonies.

The ECHR said the two brothers had then been treated as suspects and kept there unlawfully for more than two days.