ECHR Finds Turkey Guilty (Yet Again)

(The following article is reproduced for fair use and educational purposes)


The Online Newspaper of Romiossini:

European Court today: Turkey is guilty!


Brussels, 24/06/08:- Turkey was today found guilty in the European Court of Human Rights, in two cases of young Greek Cypriots who were murdered in 1996.

1. Anastasios Isaak was lynched by a mob of Turkish soldiers and Turkish Cypriot "policemen" and other Turkish and Turkish Cypriot extremists belonging to a nationalist group called "Grey Wolves". It happened in the buffer zone separating the turkish army occupied northern part of Cyprus from the southern part of the island.

2. Solomos Solomou was shot dead at short range, by Turkish soldiers when he attempted to climb up a Turkish flag pole in the buffer zone.

The Court unanimously ruled that Ankara is guilty of violating Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of the killing of Anastasios Isaak and Solomos Solomou.

The Court also ruled that Turkey is guilty of violating Article 2 in respect of the failure to conduct an effective investigation into the circumstances in which Anastasios Isaak and Solomos Solomou were killed.

Under Article 41 (just satisfaction) of the Convention, the Court awarded 80,000 euro to Anastasios Isaak’s widow for pecuniary damage. In respect of non-pecuniary damage, the Court awarded 35,000 euro each to Anastasios Isaak’s widow, his parents, and to Solomos Solomou’s father, and also 15,000 euro to each of Anastasios Isaak’s and Solomos Solomou’s siblings. The applicants in both cases were also awarded 12,000 for costs and expenses.

The two applications were filed to the Court by the families of Tasos Isaak and Solomou Solomou, both of whom were murdered by Turkish or Turkish Cypriots during demonstrations in 1996.

Click here for the judgment in the case of:
ISAAK v. TURKEY (Application no. 44587/98)
SOLOMOU AND OTHERS v. TURKEY (Application no. 36832/97)