Turkey failed to heed to European Court’s verdict, says laywer

tert.am
21:28 – 14.06.12

Dink family’s lawyer Fethiye Chetin penned a letter to the Committe of
Ministers of the Council of Europe, arguing that the Turkish
government had failed to implement any serious, concrete or frank
steps to execute the verdict issued by the ECHR and that it rewarded
the responsible parties by promoting rather than trying them in a
court of law, Bianet.org reported.

The Turkish government updated its action plan dating to June 27, 2011
once again on Oct. 19, 2011 due to the finalization of the European
Court’s verdict on Dec. 14, 2010, she said, adding that both action
plans included contemporary developments under the titles of
independent and general measures and ongoing trials rather than the
verdict’s execution.

“The written [contents] of the government’s action plan clearly
indicate [they] took no concrete or serious steps to execute the
verdict. The government did not attempt anything positive since the
time of the last action plan either,” Fethiye Chetin said.

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the chief editor of the
Armenian weekly Agos, was shot dead on Jan. 19, 2007 in broad daylight
before his office in Istanbul’s Shishli district.

“The [action] plan elucidated at length over measures allegedly taken,
ongoing trials and investigations not yet complete, but [it] divulged
no concrete information over the execution of the [European Court’s]
verdict on Dink or a renewal of the trial,” Chetin said in her letter.

“The government did not choose to opt for remission to execute the
verdict, failed to bring those responsible before justice and
continued its rhetoric and actions [intended to] pave the way for new
violations by reproducing the [same] structure that spawned the
violations [in the first place,] she said.

The ECHR had convicted Turkey of violating the second article of the
European Convention on Human Rights over the right to life, the 10th
article on the freedom of speech and the 13th article over the right
to an effective remedy in the lawsuit filed by the Dink family.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress