Constitutional Court ruling: Compensation to be paid to DEM Party's Koçyiğit
The Constitutional Court has ruled that the prohibition against ill-treatment was violated in the case of DEM Party member Gülüstan Kılıç Koçyiğit, who filed an individual application following an incident in 2019 where she was prevented from leaving an HDP building, and ordered the payment of 100,000 TL in non-pecuniary damages to Koçyiğit.
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Following the Ministry of Interior's decision to remove the mayors of Diyarbakır, Mardin, and Van Metropolitan Municipalities from office in 2019, demonstrations were banned in Diyarbakır for a period of 15 days.
On August 20, 2019, the then-HDP Co-Chair Sezai Temelli and HDP members of parliament, including Gülüstan Kılıç Koçyiğit, were prevented from holding a press statement in front of the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality building, and law enforcement intervened against the deputies who wanted to leave the party building.
In the forensic medical report prepared for Koçyiğit following the intervention, swelling was described in the occipital region (the back of the neck, above the nape), and ecchymosis and swelling were noted on her back. Upon this, Koçyiğit filed a criminal complaint with the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on 6/12/2019, requesting an investigation into the relevant public officials for the crimes of "deprivation of liberty," "torture," "misconduct in office," and "assault." The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office decided that there were no grounds for prosecution. Koçyiğit appealed this decision, but the Diyarbakır 3rd Criminal Judgeship of Peace rejected the appeal.
Koçyiğit filed an individual application to the Constitutional Court (AYM), arguing that her right to personal liberty and security was violated because she was prevented from leaving the HDP provincial building, and that the prohibition against ill-treatment was violated due to the physical violence applied by law enforcement officers and the failure to conduct an effective criminal investigation into the incident.
The Constitutional Court ruled that the claim regarding the violation of the prohibition against ill-treatment was admissible, that the procedural aspect of the prohibition against ill-treatment guaranteed under Article 17 of the Constitution was violated, and ordered the payment of 100,000 TL in non-pecuniary damages to Koçyiğit.