Holding inmates far from family violation of human rights: European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Tuesday ruled that Turkey had violated the right to respect for private and family life of inmates Abdülkerim Avşar and Abdülkerim Tekin who were transferred to prisons far from their family home.

Top court also sentenced Turkey to pay six thousand euros of compensation to each inmate.

Relying on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the applicants complained that their requests to be transferred to a prison closer to their family home had been rejected.

Avşar was being held in the F-type prison in Kırıkkale, whereas his family lived in Diyarbakır. His mother, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, was unable to travel. In June 2008 Avşar’s lawyer asked the Ankara Directorate General of Prisons to transfer his client to a prison in the province of Diyarbakır. Mr Avşar twice applied to the Directorate General of Prisons attached to the Ministry of Justice for the same purpose. The Ministry of Justice refused his requests. Ten years later after his application Avşar was transferred to Diyarbakır T-type prison On 25 May 2018.

In November 2011 Tekin who was in Kırıkkale prison applied to the Ministry of Justice to be transferred closer to his family. who lived in Siirt, a 1500 km away from Kırıkkale. The Ministry refused his application on the grounds that the prisons to which he had asked to be transferred had reached full capacity.

The ECtHR ruled that the prison administration’s arbitrary rejection also constitutes a rights violation, saying “All detainees and convicts can apply for a transfer from their prison to a place close to their families,”.

Human rights organisations frequently report serious human rights violations that are taking place in Turkish prisons.

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from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/holding-inmates-far-from-family-violation-of-human-rights-european-court-of-human-rights/