ECHR fines Turkey over former BDP MP injured by police during protest

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Turkey violated the right to "freedom of peaceful assembly" of former pro-Kurdish MP Sevahir Bayındır who broke her hip bone during a police intervention in a protest. In 2010, Bayındır broke her hip bone after police deployed water cannons at a march in the southeastern Şırnak province.

Wednesday October 25 2023 06:33 pm

Duvar English

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Turkey violated the "right to freedom of peaceful assembly" of now-closed Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) former Şırnak MP Sevahir Bayındır over her injuries sustained in 2010 after police intervened in a march organized at Turkey’s Iraqi border.

Sevahir Bayındır in 2010 fell and broke her hip bone after police intervened at the march with water cannons. The march was organized at the Iraqi border in the Kurdish-majority Şırnak province to protest Turkey’s military operations in Iraq and demand the government to address Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader in its efforts to solve the Kurdish issue.

The Şırnak province in 2010 was the epicenter of the military operations held against the PKK.

The Court also ruled that Turkey is to pay Bayındır €26.000 for non-pecuniary damages. The court dismissed two other applicants’ claims.

The ruling included a report by the Inspection Board of the Turkish Interior Ministry. The report stated that Bayındır’s injury did not occur as a result of police intervention, and it was “an unfortunate coincidence” that Bayındır had been hit by water and been injured as a result of her fall.

The report also claimed, “The injury was the result of her falling awkwardly owing to physical weakness. Indeed, the other demonstrators who had been hit by the same pressurized water had not been injured.”