ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A European court on Tuesday said that Turkey had violated the rights of more than 400 judges and prosecutors by holding them in pre-trial detention in the wake of the 2016 coup attempt and ordered Ankara to pay compensation.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously that Turkey violated the rights of 427 judges and prosecutors “on account of the unlawfulness of the initial pre-trial detention of the applicants.”
The judges and prosecutors were arrested as part of a purge across Turkey’s government institutions and military after the failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that Ankara blamed on the Gulen movement: a transnational religious movement, led by Fethullah Gülen.
More than 4,000 judges and prosecutors were accused of membership in the Gulen movement, named a terrorist organization in Turkey, and dismissed from their posts. The majority of them were subsequently convicted on the terror charge.
The court ordered Turkey to pay each applicant 5,000 euros in damages.
Turkey has not immediately commented on the ruling.
Ankara has ignored several recent European court decisions against it, namely in the cases of jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas and philanthropist Osman Kavala. Last year, the human rights court ordered the “immediate release” of Demirtas who has been imprisoned since 2016 on charges of ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Council of Europe has said that if Ankara fails to comply with a 2019 court order to release Kavala pending trial, it would take action, including possibly suspending Turkey’s voting rights or membership.
Ankara is continuing its crackdown on the Gulen movement. On Tuesday, security forces arrested 132 people suspected of having links to the group, Anadolu Agency reported.
