Attending demonstration can't be proof of terrorist group membership, ECHR tells Turkey
Attending a demonstration can't be a proof of terrorist organization membership, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in the case of four applicants from Turkey. The applicants faced the said accusation for attending a demonstration in 2008, with the ECHR saying that their rights to freedom of assembly were violated.
Hacı Bişkin / DUVAR
Attending a demonstration can't be a proof of terrorist organization membership, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in the case of four applicants from Turkey.
The court said that Turkey violated the rights of the applicants by handing them sentences over "committing a crime on behalf of a terrorist organization while not being a member of it" and fined Ankara to pay compensation worth 5,000 euros to each.
The applicants faced the said accusation for attending a demonstration in 2008, with the ECHR saying that their rights to freedom of assembly were violated.
The lawyer of Ramazan Taş, one of the applicants, said that the ruling is compatible with a report from the Venice Commission.
"The commission previously called on Turkey to not make the accusation for those attending demonstrations and assemblies," Erkan Şenses told Duvar.
The ruling is similar to another dated Nov. 14, 2017, in which the court said that the rights of Murat Işıkırık were violated when he faced the same accusation for attending the funeral ceremony of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants.
"This means that violation rulings will be issued in similar cases in the future," Şenses said.