European court deems rebel's Turkish trial unfair

Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan did not receive a fair trial in Turkey, Europe’s top human rights court ruled today in a decision that will put pressure on Ankara as it prepares for membership negotiations with the European Union.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Turkish authorities breached international treaties by denying Ocalan the right to a fair and independent trial and barring his legal representative from contacting him after he was detained.

Ocalan’s case has been problematic for the Turkish government, which wants to live up to European human rights standards while dealing with Kurdish militants seeking autonomy. He is serving a life sentence as the sole inmate of a prison island.

The European court’s rulings are binding on all 46 members of the Council of Europe, the continent’s top human rights watchdog. The verdict, issued by the court’s Grand Chamber, is final and cannot be appealed.

Retrying Ocalan or reopening his case would be “an appropriate way of redressing the violation”, the court said, but did not set a time limit.

The ruling, likely to enrage Turkish nationalists who regard Ocalan as a terrorist, was welcomed by the European Union, which is to start membership negotiations with Turkey in October.

In Turkey, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said the government was evaluating the decision.

“Everybody has to trust the Turkish legal system,” he said. “We have to see the decision in detail …. In law even a comma is important, the details are important.”

The decision comes amid rising nationalism in Turkey and is certain to anger many Turks who regard Ocalan as a terrorist who tried to divide the country.

Several dozen Kurdish activists staged a rally outside the court building demanding Ocalan be released immediately.

Ocalan, arrested in Kenya in an undercover operation six years ago, was the head of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.

The group, which Turkey and the US consider a terrorist organisation, led a 15-year battle for Kurdish autonomy in a conflict that has left 37,000 people dead in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast.

Turkey sees the rebels as a continued threat to the country. Although fighting died down after Ocalan’s capture, it resumed recently after the rebels ended a unilateral cease-fire last year.