Rights violation ruling in ByLock case: Turkey to pay compensation

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has announced its decision regarding the application filed by Aydın Sefa Akay, a judge at the United Nations (UN) International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals and a retired ambassador, who was arrested and sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison following the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey on the grounds that he used ByLock and was a "member of a terrorist organization."

According to the ECHR, the court ruled unanimously that Turkey violated Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, concerning the right to liberty and security, and Article 8, concerning the right to respect for private and family life, due to Akay's arrest in violation of his diplomatic immunity and the search of his residence and person.

21 THOUSAND EUROS IN DAMAGES

According to the report by DW Turkish, the ECHR ruled that Turkey must pay 21 thousand euros in damages to Aydın Sefa Akay.

Turkey will pay 7 thousand euros for court costs.

In the statement released by the court today, it was noted that the outcome of the case relates to the search of his home, and that when Akay was arrested following the 2016 coup attempt, he was working remotely from his home in Istanbul on cases related to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda under the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

In its decision, the ECHR stated that it was not convinced by the local courts' interpretation of international law when they rejected Akay's claim of diplomatic immunity.

The court further noted that Akay held full diplomatic immunity, and that this right protected him from any form of arrest or detention under international law.

EMPHASIS ON THE NULLIFICATION OF ALL PROTECTIONS

In addition, it was emphasized that the local courts examined the issue of Akay's diplomatic immunity for the first time only after more than eight months, and did not even conduct an examination regarding the search of his home and person, effectively nullifying all protections Akay held as an international judge.

It was noted that the local court rejected the diplomatic immunity claim, ruling that while Akay had immunity related to his duties as a UN judge, it did not apply within Turkey's jurisdiction.

REQUEST FOR RELEASE NOT ACCEPTED

However, Akay's application to the Constitutional Court regarding his pre-trial detention without respect for diplomatic customs was rejected.

Akay's request for release under Article 46 was also not accepted.

The court stated that the reason for the rejection was that the available findings only related to his pre-trial detention, which ended in June 2017.

News Source: 12punto