Euro court fines Turkey 30,000 euros for man's death over lack of safety measures on building site

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Sept. 19 that the Turkish government must pay compensation amounting to 30,000 euros for the lack of safety measures on a building site that led to the death of a man in 2002.

Accordingly, as Turkey was indicated to have violated "right to life," as guaranteed by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the government will pay 20,000 euros in pecuniary damages and 10,000 euros in non-pecuniary damages jointly to Ufuk Uzun's wife and his three daughters.

The incident concerned Uzun's death in 2002 after he fell down the shaft of a lift in a building whose construction had been abandoned in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul. 

Afterwards, a criminal investigation was launched into the incident, with the Sarıyer District Court ruling that Uzun bore principal liability for the fall, as he had acted imprudently by entering a building site in the dark and in an inebriated state. The court however, took the view that the failure by the Sarıyer municipal authority to adopt safety measures on the building site had contributed to the death.

On Sept. 19, the ECHR agreed with the applicants that the lack of safety measures on the building site had led to Uzun's death.