ECHR fines Turkey 10,600 euros

STRASBOURG

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has fined Turkey 10,600 euros, as it ruled on April 5 the “right to liberty and security” and the “right to be brought promptly before a judge” had been violated in the case of a Turkish national.

Vedat Doğru had applied to the ECHR with complaints over his placement in pretrial detention and the prolongation of that detention, and for being released three days after a judicial decision ordering his release in a case which he was charged with attempting to bring about the secession of an area of national territory between 1993 and 1994. 

Doğru, whose arrest warrant was issued on May 15, 2009, in the Tuzla district of Istanbul, had been placed in pretrial detention with a view to his appearance before a court in the eastern province of Erzurum within 24 hours. Upon the decision, Doğru’s lawyer challenged the arrest warrant, mentioning that her client, who had been in detention since the day of his arrest, had still not been transferred to Erzurum and requested his prompt transfer. On June 25, 2009, an Erzurum prosecutor asked his counterpart in Tuzla to accept Doğru’s submissions and release him.

On June 26, 2009, Doğru was heard by a prosecutor in Istanbul and was brought before a criminal court, which ordered his release. On the same day the Erzurum prosecutor’s office, noting that a discontinuance decision had been given on July 15, 1994, regarding the facts with which Doğru had been charged, decided to discontinue the proceedings. Doğru was released on June 29, 2009.

Although Doğru brought an action for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages on July 7, 2010, submitting that he had suffered damage on account of the length of his detention, and received a sum of money in respect of the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage which he had suffered, his appeal on points of law was dismissed on May 27, 2013.