ABTTF President: “For more than 16 years, our country has been ignoring its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, to which it is a party, by not executing the ECtHR’s judgements with respect to three of our associations in violation of the freedom of association of our community. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which supervises the execution of the final judgments of the ECtHR according to Article 46 of the Convention, should no longer allow our country to disregard the rule of law and should immediately initiate the infringement procedure against our country’’.
The 1,287 applications lodged with before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) by detainees in Greek prisons concerning the conditions of their detention are expected to be examined at the beginning of 2025.
In view of this situation, the President and Attorney General of the Court of Cassation (Arios Pagos) have called on judges and prosecutors to immediately finalise all pending cases by the end of December at the latest.
According to the Greek judge of the ECtHR Ioannis Ktistakis, the chances of Greece being sentenced to a high level of compensation by the ECtHR for these applications are considerably high.
“In the past, Greece has been convicted many times by the ECtHR for inhumane conditions of detention in its prisons and had to pay compensation to the applicants. The President and the Chief Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation took steps at the last moment to prevent similar situations from happening again, but in vain. Indeed, the issues faced in the judicial system of our country are systematic and directly related to the collapse of the rule of law in our country. As the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we know and experience this the best. For more than 16 years, our country has been ignoring its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, to which it is a party, by not executing the ECtHR’s judgements with respect to three of our associations in violation of the freedom of association of our community. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which supervises the execution of the final judgments of the ECtHR according to Article 46 of the Convention, should no longer allow our country to disregard the rule of law and should immediately initiate the infringement procedure against our country”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
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