European human rights court has fined Turkey 295 million lira in 16 years

Duvar English

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has sentenced Turkey to pay 295 million Turkish lira in the past 16 years, Justice Ministry has revealed, sharing statistics on rights violations.

The ministry's statement was in response to a parliamentary question submitted by opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Alpay Antmen, who said that trust in the judiciary "is about to diminish."

In his parliamentary question, Antmen asked the number of "rights violation" applications made to the ECHR from Turkey.

In its response, the ECHR said that the number of applications totaled 110,000, while the number of rights violation rulings was 3,128, daily Birgün reported on Nov. 10.

Some 2,840 of the aforementioned violation rulings were issued in the past 16 years, the ministry said, adding that the total amount of compensation paid by Turkey was over 295 million Turkish lira.

Speaking about the statistics, Antmen said that a significant portion of the rulings against Turkey concerned "the right to a fair trial," "the right to liberty and security" and "the right to freedom of expression."

"Violations of the right to freedom of assembly and association, right to be tried within a reasonable period, the right to private life and the right to life follow these," were prominent categories, Antmen said, criticizing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

"The suffering and violations are being swept under the rug by this government. Tens of thousands of citizens suffering from rights violations have been faced obstacles from the AKP," he added.