§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many judgments have been given by the European Court of Human Rights against Turkey in cases involving:
- (a) the destruction of property without compensation;
- (b) death, torture and maltreatment in custody and serious personal injury generally;
- (c) persons who have disappeared;
- (d) obstruction and prosecution of defence counsel; and
- (e) unwarranted restrictions on freedom of expression and publication. [HL2916]
§ The Minister for Trade (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)The registry of the European Court of Human Rights provides statistics on Court judgments. The Court registry can be contacted at: European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe, F-67075 Strasbourg-Cedex.
According to the registry's preliminary statistics, there have been 55 judgments against Turkey in cases which fall into the above areas, 18 on freedom of expression and 37 on the action of security forces. One case may include several violations of the European Convention on Human Rights. These violations can be divided up as follows:
in four cases the destruction of property has led to violations of the right to the home in Article 8 or of the right of property in Article 1 of Protocol No. 1;
in 24 cases the death or disappearance of a person has led to violations of the right to life under Article 2 either because of the disproportionate use of violence or because of the absence of adequate investigations by police and prosecutors;
in 23 cases torture or maltreatment by police has led to violations of Article 3;
in 18 cases criminal convictions have resulted in violations of the applicants' right to freedom of expression under Article 10.