The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently
ruled that a UN judge, Aydin Sefa Akay, was unlawfully detained in Türkiye in 2016. The court found that in arresting and detaining him on terrorism charges in the wake of a failed coup d’état, the Turkish court did not recognise his diplomatic immunity.
Akay lodged an application to the ECHR in December 2016, arguing that his pre-trial detention and the searches carried out on his home and person were breaches of his human rights and a stark disregard of his diplomatic immunity. The ECHR found in favor of Akay, declaring that owing to his diplomatic immunity, he should have been “shielded from any form of arrest or detention”. Moreover, the court ruled that his pre-trial detention was unlawful and breached Article 5 of the
European Convention on Human Rights, which safeguards the right to liberty and security. The searches conducted on Akay’s residence and person were also found to infringe upon his human rights under Article 8 – the right to a private life.
Akay was arrested in Türkiye after the unsuccessful coup attempt in September 2016. Despite his pleadings for release based on diplomatic immunity, his detention was extended on the basis of evidential suspicion of his alleged participation in a terrorist organization. His first trial took place in July 2017, which resulted in a prison sentence of seven and a half years. Following unsuccessful appeals, his conviction was upheld in a 2021 judgment from the Court of Cassation.
Although the ECHR ruled Akay’s pre-trial detention to be unlawful, this ruling does not impact upon his current prison sentence. The ECHR’s findings only concern his pre-trial detention, and his ongoing deprivation of liberty remains a separate issue. Following the ECHR judgement, Akay is now owed €21,000 ($22,46) in damages and €7,000 ($7,49) in costs and expenses. Türkiye now has a three-month period to appeal the decision.
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JURIST – News.