The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Tuesday ruled that Turkey violated prisoners’ right to respect for their private and family life by restricting weekend visits and telephone calls, the Bold Medya news website reported.
The ruling concerned an application filed by Talha Altıntop and 28 other Turkish nationals, who argued that the restrictions prevented them from maintaining regular contact with their school-age children.
One applicant also complained that his private correspondence had been uploaded onto the National Judicial Network Server (UYAP), a centralized digital system used by Turkey’s judicial institutions to store and share legal records.
In its judgment, Altıntop and Others v. Türkiye, the Strasbourg-based court unanimously found that Turkey had violated the applicants’ right to respect for their private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The applicants were detained in various prisons awaiting trial or appeal decisions or serving sentences for terrorism-related offenses in connection with a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
The court rejected the Turkish government’s objections, saying it had already dismissed similar arguments in Subaşı and Others v. Türkiye in December 2022, in which Ankara argued that the restrictions were temporary, justified by capacity constraints and offset by the availability of weekday visits and other means of communication.
The court ordered the Turkish government to pay €1,500 in non-pecuniary damages to each applicant, with an additional €500 to 11 applicants who submitted documented costs and expenses.
