Turkey over 90,000 euros by Euro court

ISTANBUL

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The European Court of Human Rights has fined Turkey close to 100,000 euros for violating different articles in a series of cases, with the highest fine totaling 65,000 euros in a case in which a man was killed by a police officer in 2001.

Ali Külah died after being shot by a police officer, who claimed that the man had attempted to take his pistol when the gun fired amid the struggle. The man’s family, however, claimed their son was beaten before being shot. Turkey was found guilty of violating Article 2 of the European convention, the right to life, and was fined 65,000 euros in non-pecuniary damages. In a separate case, Mekiye Demirci was awarded 9,000 euros after Turkish officers forced her to sign testimony in which she legally admitted to being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) without actually knowing the contents of the document. Based on the document, Demirci was sentenced to three years in prison.

Turkey was subsequently sanctioned in the case for violating several principles of the right to liberty, a speedy review of the lawfulness of detention and the right to compensation.

The court ruled in favor of applicants Osman Yazıcı, Erkan Polat and Kadir Sağın in a case involving police brutality and torture, fining the Turkey 25,000 euros for violating Article 3, ill-treatment in an investigation.
 
Turkey was also found guilty of violating the right to a fair trial and the right to be assisted by a lawyer in the case of Mehmet Uğur Süzer, who was allegedly arrested when he was caught in the middle of a fight.