The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 28 June 2016 as a Chamber composed of: Julia Laffranque, President, Işıl Karakaş, Nebojša Vučinić, Paul Lemmens, Valeriu Griţco, Ksenija Turković, Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström, judges, and Stanley Naismith, Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 4 March 2013, Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicant, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS 1. The applicant, Mr Ethem Sakin, is a Turkish national, who was born in 1961 and is currently serving a prison sentence in the Bolu T-Type Closed Prison. He is represented before the Court by Mr C. Yetkiner, a lawyer practising in Istanbul. 2. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) are represented by their Agent. 2 SAKİN v. TURKEY DECISION A. The...
SECOND SECTION DECISION Application no. 20616/13 Ethem SAKİN against Turkey The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 28 June 2016 as a Chamber composed of: Julia Laffranque, President, Işıl Karakaş, Nebojša Vučinić, Paul Lemmens, Valeriu Griţco, Ksenija Turković, Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström, judges, and Stanley Naismith, Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 4 March 2013, Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicant, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS 1. The applicant, Mr Ethem Sakin, is a Turkish national, who was born in 1961 and is currently serving a prison sentence in the Bolu T-Type Closed Prison. He is represented before the Court by Mr C. Yetkiner, a lawyer practising in Istanbul. 2. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) are represented by their Agent.
2 SAKİN v. TURKEY DECISION A. The circumstances of the case 3. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 1. The applicant’s detention at the Bilecik M-Type Closed Prison 4. On 4 January 2010 the applicant was taken into pre-trial detention at the Bilecik M-Type Closed Prison (“Bilecik Prison”), pending the criminal proceedings against him on a charge of murder. He was initially placed in a smoking cell (koğuş, a multi-occupancy living unit) reserved for inmates in pre-trial detention only. 5. On an unspecified date in 2011 the Bilecik Assize Court found the applicant guilty on three counts of murder. The applicant appealed against that judgment. There is no further information in the case file as regards the outcome of the appeal proceedings. 6. According to the information and documents provided by the Bilecik Prison administration, the applicant changed cells a total of seven times during his detention at Bilecik Prison between 4 January 2010 and 26 December 2012. The changes were all effected at the applicant’s request. It appears that two of those changes were made to accommodate his wish to stay in a non-smoking cell, and the remaining changes were made following conflicts with his cell-mates. It further appears that while some of the cells he stayed in were allocated exclusively to inmates in pre-trial detention, others accommodated both those in pre-trial detention and convicts. 7. On 20 March 2012 the applicant sent a letter to the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Centres of the Ministry of Justice, requesting his transfer to another prison. He argued that he was not safe in the Bilecik Prison, where he had many enemies. He also mentioned in the same letter that as a non-smoker he was sharing a cell with smokers, and that there were also convicts in his cell. 8. By a letter dated 9 May 2012 the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Centres informed the Bilecek public prosecutor’s office that the applicant’s allegations regarding his ...