Statements on the Rejection of the Request for Intervention to the Proceedings as A Third Party by the President of the Second Section of the European Court of Human Rights
By Volunteer Jurists Association, 2021
The applications of Ataman and the Others (Application no: 14676/17), Sevinç and the Others (63634/16), Ulusoy and the Others (73062/16) regarding the pre-trial detention of judges and prosecutors were communicated to the Turkish Government to submit its observations by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on 16th October of 2020.
On 22 December 2020, the Volunteer Jurists Association requested for leave to intervene to the proceedings of the aforementioned applications as a third party under the article 44 § 3 (a) and (b) of the Rules of Court. In the letter, as long as the activities we carry out, our responsibilities within the framework of the Association Status regarding the violations of the rights of lawyers have been emphasized. In particular, it has been stated that we can provide concrete examples of decisions regarding the ineffectiveness of remedy on the compensation cases that have not yet been finalized, foreseen in the Article 141 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Similarly, it has been stated that the explanation will also be made on issues that are shown as the basis for the arrest of judges and prosecutors, such as using the Bylock application.
By the official letter dated 26 January 2021 of the Second Section of the ECtHR, the intervention requested was rejected stating it is “not necessary in the interest of the proper administration of justice”.
As remarked in numerous national and international reports, especially during a period of the state of emergency declared right after the coup attempt of the July 15, the human rights violations that occurred in Turkey have unfortunately increased in terms of severity and quantity. During this period, approximately five thousand of judges and prosecutors (one third of the current judges and prosecutors) were dismissed, about three thousands of whom were arrested. Many of our colleagues have still been illegally held in prisons as convicted or detainee.
In its decisions regarding the applications of Alpaslan Altan (Application no. 12778/17) and Hakan Baş (Application no. 66448/17), the ECtHR found that the applicants, who were formerly and respectively the member of the Turkish Constitutional Court and the court of first instance judge, were detained without evidence and contrary to domestic law. In the case of Hakan Baş, the failure to appear before the judge for a long time was also seen as a violation by the Court.
From the rejection of our request by the ECtHR, we conclude that the Court will continue its approach in the cases of Alpaslan Altan and Hakan Baş. On the other hand, we hope that in the aforementioned applications, which contain a large number of new complaints and documents, the Court will further expand its existing jurisprudence. For instance, we firmly believe that the Court will make new determinations such that the compensation cases foreseen under Article 141 of the CMK cannot be considered effective remedy.
We would like to inform the public that our association is always ready to cooperate with the ECtHR and other international mechanisms. In addition, it will continue to carefully follow violations of rights against lawyers from all over the world and provide all kinds of legal support to the victims.
The Executive Committee of the Volunteer Jurists Association
