Euro court fines Turkey 58,000 euros in five separate cases

ISTANBUL

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has fined Turkey a total of 58,000 euros in five separate cases for violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Ümran Durmaz had applied to the ECHR over the authorities’ alleged failure to carry out an effective investigation into the death of her daughter in July 2005. The daughter died in hospital, where she had been taken by her husband after taking an overdose of two medicines, after which Durmaz filed a complaint alleging that her daughter’s husband was responsible for the death.

A forensic medical examination found no trace of medicines or other drugs in the deceased women’s blood, or in other samples taken from her body, but it noted that there was an advanced edema in her lungs. In February 2006, the prosecutor decided to close the investigation, concluding that she had committed suicide.

The ECHR ruled that the Turkish authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the death of the applicant’s daughter, and had therefore violated Article 2 of the European Convention. It ordered Turkey to pay 20,000 euros to Durmaz.

In two other decisions, the ECHR ruled that Turkey had breached Article 3 concerning the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment and 10,000 euros were to be paid to each applicant.

Turkey was also fined 8,000 euros for breaching the right to liberty and security and the right to a speedy review of the lawfulness of detention in the Ali Rıza Kaplan vs. Turkey case, and it also ordered Turkey to pay 2,000 euros each to five applicants in the Dinç and Others vs. Turkey case for exceeding the proper length of legal proceedings.