Erdoğan Yılmaz and Others v. Turkey (19374/03)
| Date | 20081014 |
|---|---|
| Article | 3 |
| Decision | violation |
Violation of Article 3 (torture and investigation)
Erdoğan Yılmaz and Others v. Turkey (no. 19374/03)
Violation of Article 3 (treatment and investigation)
Mehmet Eren v. Turkey (no. 32347/02)
The applicants in the first case are seven Turkish nationals. Erdoğan Yılmaz, Ayşe Yılmaz, Birsen Kaya, Sırma Yeter, Mustafa Yeter and Ayşe (Yeter) Yumli who were born in 1960, 1955, 1974, 1924, 1955, and 1970 respectively and live in Turkey, and Dursun Yeter who was born in 1957 and lives in Austria. Sırma Yeter, Mustafa Yeter, Dursun Yeter and Ayşe (Yeter) Yumli are the relatives of Süleyman Yeter, now deceased, who was arrested by police officers on 22 February 1997 on suspicion of membership of an illegal organisation, namely the MLKP (Marxist Leninist Communist Party). The same day, Erdoğan Yılmaz, Ayşe Yılmaz and Birsen Kaya were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the activities of the MLKP.
The applicant in the second case is Mehmet Eren, a Turkish national who was born in 1968 and lives in Diyarbakır (Turkey). He is a journalist. He was taken into custody by police officers from the Anti-Terrorist Branch of the Diyarbakır Police Headquarters along with 108 other persons. At the time of the arrest, the applicant and the other arrestees were in the Diyarbakır branch of the People’s Democracy Party (HADEP), where demonstrations and hunger strikes were allegedly being organised, in order to protest about the arrest of Abdullah Öcalan.
The first three applicants in the case of Erdoğan Yılmaz and Others and Mehmet Eren complained that they were ill-treated in police custody and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation into their allegations. The remaining applicants raised the same allegations in respect of their relative. All the applicants relied on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment and lack of an effective investigation). Mr Eren also relied on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial).
In the case of Erdoğan Yılmaz and Others the Court considered that the ill-treatment complained of had been inflicted intentionally by police officers for the purpose of extracting confessions and that that ill-treatment had therefore amounted to torture, in breach of Article 3. In the case of Mehmet Eren the Court found in particular that the Turkish Government had not given any plausible explanation as to the cause of the injuries sustained by the applicant in police custody. Those injuries had therefore been the result of serious ill-treatment for which the Government had been responsible, in violation of Article 3.
In both cases the Court found that the Government had failed to carry out an effective or adequate investigation into the applicants’ allegations, in further violation of Article 3.
Lastly, in the case of Mehmet Eren, the Court held that there was no need to examine separately the applicant’s complaint under Article 6.
In respect of non-pecuniary damage, the Court awarded EUR 15,000, each, to Erdoğan Yılmaz, Ayşe Yılmaz and Birsen Kaya; EUR 15,000, jointly, to Sırma Yeter, Mustafa Yeter, Dursun Yeter and Ayşe (Yeter) Yumli; and, EUR 7,500 to Mr Eren. The applicants in the case of Erdoğan Yılmaz and Others were awarded EUR 5,000, jointly, for costs and expenses. (The judgment is available only in English.)