The European Court of Human Rights ruled in a case of a Turkish conscientious objector that Article 3, Article 9 and Article 6 § 1 were violated.

Last Friday, Turkish-Kurdish conscientious objector Inan Süver was released earlier then expected. Inan Süver explained that he is extremely happy and excited to be out of the prison cell and part of daily life again.

We thank all who supported Inan Süver and helped to achieve his early release.

The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection welcomes the recent landmark decision on the case of the Turkish­Cypriot conscientious objector Murat Kanatli. On December 8 the Military Court in Lefkosa (“northern” Nicosia, Cyprus) accepted the demand of Murat Kanatli to refer his case to the Constitutional Court on the basis of the freedom of thought and expression.

EBCO calls on the Military Court of Ioannina, Greece, to deem itself incompetent on the case of conscientious objector Gerasimos Koroneos in his trial tomorrow. For both Murat Kanatli and Gerasimos Koroneos EBCO demands the immediate and unconditional end of their persecution.

Today, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan chaired by Imran Hajibayov considered the appeal of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, the imprisoned youth activist and blogger. In May this year he was sentenced to two years of imprisonment on charges of evading military service. The Supreme Court judge declared that Bakhtiyar Hajiyev’s appeal was rejected. Hajiyev’s lawyer said since it is impossible to achieve justice in Azerbaijani courts he intended to seek justice in the European Court of Human Rights.

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case Erçep v. Turkey (application no. 43965/04), which is not final, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

A violation of Article 9 (right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights and,

A violation of Article 6 (right to a fair trial) of the Convention.

The case concerned the refusal by the applicant, a Jehovah’s Witness and conscientious objector, to perform military service for reasons of conscience.