Turkey Found Guilty by European Court

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday found Turkey guilty of failing “in their duty to protect the life and freedom of expression” Hrant Dink. The court also ruled that Turkey should pay damages of 100,000 euros ($135,000) to Dink’s wife, Rakel and his children. An additional 5000-euros were awarded to Dink’s brother and the court ordered Turkey to pay 28,595 euros to the applicants for costs and expenses.The Court unanimously found that Turkey had committed two violations of Article 2 (right to life—lack of an effective investigation), a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) and a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) in conjunction with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that it would not appeal the case at the European court. In its statement, the ministry said precautions would be taken to prevent similar breaches of rights in the future.More...