ECHR delivered final verdict on missing persons case against Turkey
Agamemnon
Turkey
NICOSIA (CNA/ANA-MPA)
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has delivered its final
judgment in the case of ''Varnava and Others V. Turkey'', relating to
eighteen Greek Cypriots, nine of whom are missing persons since the
1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
In its judgment, the Court said Turkey is guilty of "the continuing
violation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights on
account of Turkey's failure to effectively investigate the fate of the
nine men who disappeared in 1974".
The Court announced that there was a violation of Article 3, noting
that the treatment to which the relatives of the missing persons were
subjected "could only be categorised as inhuman treatment".
According to the judgment, there was also "a continuing violation of
Article 5 in respect of Eleftherios Thoma and Savvas Hadjipanteli".
Under Article 41 (just satisfaction) of the Convention, the Court
awarded the applicants 12,000 euros per application in respect of
non-pecuniary damage and 8,000 euros for costs and expenses.
In 1990, nine individual applications against Turkey were submitted
before the ECHR concerning the following missing persons: Andreas
Varnava, Andreas Loizides, Philippos Constantinou, Demetris
Theocharides, Panicos Charalambous, Eleftherios Thoma, Savvas
Hadjipantelis - his remains were identified - Savvas Apostolides and
Leondis Demetriou Sarmas.