Euro Court fines Turkey for inhumane detention of Russian national

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has fined Turkey 10,000 euros upon the complaint of a Russian national, who was detained for six months between 2010 and 2011.

Zalim Yarashonen, the applicant, is a Russian national of Chechen origin who fled to Turkey in 2000. He was arrested in October 2010 at the Atatürk International Airport in Istanbul for illegal entry into Turkey, as he had no passport. He was detained before his deportation, initially at the airport police station, and then at Kumkapı Removal Center. He was released in April 2011 and granted an asylum-seeker certificate.

Yarashonen claimed his detention from October 2010 to April 2011 had been unlawful, that he had not been informed of the reasons for his detention and he had neither been given the possibility of challenging the lawfulness of his detention, nor of obtaining compensation for those complaints.

He claimed Turkey violated his right to liberty and security, prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment and his right to an effective remedy.

The ECHR ruled that Turkey had subjected Yarashonen to “inhuman or degrading treatment” on account of the material conditions of the applicant’s detention at the Kumkapı Removal Center. Turkey was also found guilty on account of the absence of effective remedies to complain about the material conditions of detention at the Kumkapı Removal Center.

Yarashonen will be compensated 10,000 euros non-pecuniary damage, in addition to the costs and expenses worth 3,997 euros.