Yeter v. Turkey (33750/03)

Date	20090113
Article	2
Decision	violation

The applicants, Ayşe (Yeter) Yumli, Sırma Yeter, Mustafa Yeter and Dursun Yeter, are Turkish nationals who were born in 1970, 1924, 1955 and 1957 respectively. The first three applicants live in Turkey and the fourth in Austria. They are the wife, mother and brothers of Süleyman Yeter, who was born in 1962 and died on 7 March 1999. Mr Süleyman Yeter was taken into police custody on 5 March 1999 on suspicion of membership of an illegal armed organisation, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party. Relying on Articles 2 (right to life) and 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), the applicants alleged that their relative was tortured to death during his police custody and that the authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation into their allegation. The Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 2 both concerning the right to life of the applicants’ relative and the lack of an effective investigation into his death. It further held that it was not necessary to examine separately the merits of the complaint under Article 3. In respect of non-pecuniary damage, Ayşe (Yeter) Yumli and Sırma Yeter were each awarded EUR 40,000, and Mustafa Yeter and Dursun Yeter were each awarded EUR 15,000. For costs and expenses, the applicants were awarded EUR 720. (The judgment is available only in English.)