The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in a case of pre-trial detention of Tekin Akgun, who was suspected of being a member of a terrorist organisation in Turkey, stated that the detention was a violation of his human rights under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Turkish authorities suspected Akgun of being involved in the organisation Gulenist Terrorist Organisation/Parallel State Structure (FETO/PDY). In July 2016 members of the Turkish armed forces attempted a military coup. The result of which left 2194 people injured and 251 people killed. The authorities believed they were led by Fetullah Gulen who they thought was the leader of the FETO/PDY.
The Turkish government declared a state of emergency which lasted from July 2016 to July 2018. The authorities questioned Mr. Akgun as they suspected him of being a member of FETO/PDY. The authorities found that Akgun had used the messaging app ByLock which was also used by FETO/PDY.
The public prosecutor referred Mr. Akgun case to the 1st Magistrate Court and asked that Mr Akgun be detained by awaiting trial. The Court ordered that Mr. Akgun be detained due to the serious nature of the alleged offenses. Mr. Akgun appealed the decision to the Constitutional Court, before lodging a claim for breach of Article 5 with the ECtHR.
The ECtHR found that there was not enough information to show that ByLock was used exclusively by FETO/PDY and that being a user of this messaging app was not sufficient to suspect a person of being involved in the coup. The ECtHR found that Mr. Akgun’s rights under 5 of the ECHR were breached.
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