Zeynep AzizThe European Court of Human Rights ruled on 20 March 2018 that Turkey had violated the European Convention in its treatment of journalists Mehmet Altan and Şahin Alpay.
The Strasbourg court examined the journalists’ prolonged pre-trial detention following the attempted coup of July 2016. It found violations of their right to liberty and security and their freedom of expression. The judgments reinforced a January decision by Turkey’s Constitutional Court, which lower courts had initially resisted implementing.
The cases were closely watched because Turkey had invoked emergency powers and a formal derogation from some Convention obligations. The European court concluded that the circumstances did not justify detention unsupported by sufficient evidence, and it emphasised the importance of political and journalistic expression in a democratic society.
Amnesty International described the rulings as offering hope to others arbitrarily detained, while legal observers saw them as an important affirmation of the Turkish Constitutional Court’s role. The decisions did not end the broader dispute over media freedom, but they established a significant European legal record on post-coup detentions.
The judgments also demonstrated that emergency rule does not eliminate judicial scrutiny. Even during a declared crisis, measures restricting liberty and expression must remain lawful, necessary and proportionate.
