Euro court rejects Turkish judge’s application tried over Gülen links

BRUSSELS

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced on Nov. 17 that it had rejected the application of a dismissed judge who is being tried for alleged links to the Gülen movement, which is accused of orchestrating the failed coup attempt of July 15 on the grounds that she failed to exhaust domestic remedies.

Zeynep Mercan, a former judge in the Black Sea province of Giresun before July 15, applied to court on Sept. 2 regarding the legality of her pre-trial detention on July 18 in the absence of any evidence, lack of reasons for the detention and the length of the period in custody.

Mercan also noted that two members of the Constitutional Court had been arrested and detained on remand, adding that in such a context, the Constitutional Court was not in a position to reach an impartial decision.

However, the court said Mercan was required to lodge an individual application with the Constitutional Court, declaring her application inadmissible.

“The court could therefore see no special circumstance which could have dispensed Ms. Mercan from the obligation to apply to the Constitutional Court, and found that the applicant had failed to take appropriate steps to enable the national courts to fulfil their fundamental role in the convention protection system, that of the European Court being subsidiary to theirs. In addition, since Ms. Mercan’s placement in pre-trial detention was not a measure that had been adopted by legislative decree in the context of the state of emergency, the court considered that Ms. Mercan’s argument that it was impossible for her to appeal against her placement in detention was unfounded. In consequence, the court dismissed the complaint under Article 5 of the Convention for failure to exhaust domestic remedies, in application of Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the convention,” the decision read.

It was the court’s first decision regarding the substantial number of complaints from Turkish nationals targeted in the aftermath of the coup attempt.