Euro court finds Turkey guilty in retired commander's case

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found Turkey guilty in the case of retired commander Levent Bekta?, who complained he had failed to obtain notice of the public prosecutor?s opinion during his criminal proceedings.

Retired commander and businessman Bekta? was arrested in Istanbul on April 22, 2009, as part of an operation into the Ergenekon coup plot case. As he remained in custody with charges of ?engaging in activities seeking the overthrow of the government by force and violence,? he applied many times to the Istanbul Assize Court for his release.

The Assize Court followed the opinion of the public prosecutor?s office, which had not notified Bekta? or his representative, and dismissed the applications for release. 

On Jan. 27, 2014, the Assize Court ordered his release, though the case is still pending before the Assize Court. Relying in particular on the right to obtain a prompt decision by a court on the lawfulness of detention, Bekta? complained there had been no effective remedy by which to seek release, in particular because of the inability to obtain a notice of the public prosecutor?s opinion.

The court held the finding of a violation constituted sufficient just satisfaction for any non-pecuniary damage suffered by the applicant.

In a separate case, the court fined Turkey 12,000 euros in the case of Mehmet Hatip Dicle and Selim Sadak, whose candidacies to the legislative elections of 2007 were rejected following their criminal conviction.

Both Dicle and Sadak, MPs in the Turkish parliament and members of the Democracy Party (DEP), were sentenced in a final judgment by the Constitutional Court in 1995 to 15 years? imprisonment for membership in an illegal organization. The ECHR found...