CEDH · CASELAW;CLIN;ENG — 10 novembre 2005

.s3ABFC313 { font-size:10pt } .sEB86A30B { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:14pt; page-break-after:avoid } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sA241FE93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:18pt; text-align:justify; page-break-after:avoid; border-bottom:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .s2EF62ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:12pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s8F2B0B1B { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s9FF10068 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt } .s5F48796F { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s5CB9E8AB { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; border-bottom:1pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .sDF790F1E { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 80 November 2005 Tekin Yıldız v. Turkey - 22913/04 Judgment 10.11.2005 [Section III] Article 3 Degrading treatment Inhuman treatment Reimprisonment of a convicted person suffering from the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome: violation   Article 46 Article 46-2 Execution of judgment Measures to be taken   Facts : The applicant, who had been sentenced to a prison term for membership of a terrorist organisation, embarked on a prolonged hunger strike while in detention which culminated in his developing Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. His sentence was suspended for six months on the ground that he was medically unfit, and the measure was extended on the strength of a medical report which found that his symptoms had persisted. In the light of the results of the next examination, his sentence was suspended until he had made a complete recovery. The applicant was arrested on suspicion of having resumed his activities and was sent back to prison. Despite an early ruling that he had no case to answer, he remained in prison for eight months. The Court conducted a fact-finding mission to Turkey in connection with a group of 53 similar cases, inspecting prisons together with a committee of experts with a mandate to assess the applicants’ medical fitness to serve custodial sentences. Law : Article 3 – All the medical examinations carried out before the applicant was sent back to prison had confirmed the initial diagnosis of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. The applicant’s state of health had been consistently found to be incompatible with detention. There was no evidence to cast doubt on those findings, nor had anything occurred during the period of detention in issue, or subsequently, which might have cast doubt upon them. The committee of experts which had examined the applicant, some time after his release following a period of almost eight months’ detention, had concluded that he was suffering from the after-effects of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, rendering him unfit to serve a prison sentence. The applicant’s situation, which had been aggravated by his return to prison and subsequent detention, had attained a sufficient level of severity to come within the scope of Article 3. The domestic authorities who had decided to return the applicant to prison and detain him for approximately eight months, despite the lack of change in his condition, could not be considered to have acted in accordance with the requirements of Article 3. The Court considered that the suffering caused to the applicant, which had gone beyond that inevitably associated with detention and the treatment of a condition like Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, had constituted inhuman and degrading treatment. Conclusion : violation (unanimously). The Court also held unanimously that a violation of Article 3 would occur if the applicant were to be sent back to prison without there being a significant improvement in his medical fitness to withstand such a move. Article 46 – The Court judged it necessary, on an exceptional basis, to indicate to the respondent State the measures it considered appropriate to remedy certain problems which had come to light regarding the official system of forensic medical reports in operation in Turkey. Article 41 – The Court awarded the applicant specified sums in respect of non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses.   © Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court. Click here for the Case-Law Information Notes