Published on 20 April 2026
SECOND SECTION
Application no. 5853/21
Kemal YİĞİT
against Türkiye
lodged on 25 November 2020
communicated on 31 March 2026
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the applicant’s alleged ill-treatment during a prison transfer. On 7 January 2019 the Şanlıurfa T-Type Prison administration decided to transfer the applicant to Rize L-Type Prison. During the transfer, the applicant stayed at Trabzon Beşikdüzü T-Type Prison on the night of 8 January 2019. He was admitted to Rize L-Type Prison the following day.
Several medical reports drawn up on 9 January 2019 noted that the applicant had stated that he had been assaulted, and that he had complained of shortness of breath and pain in the back area. The reports noted hyperaemic areas on the right side of his back, the largest being 5 cm, with occasional pinpoint abrasions, and a 5-cm wide abrasion with hyperaemia on his left shoulder area. Additionally, the doctors noted a laceration at the root of his nose, redness on the upper front part of his left chest, and a limited right-side pneumothorax. A medical report drawn up by the Rize Forensic Medicine Institute found that the applicant’s injuries were life-threatening, and that they could not be treated with simple medical care.
On 15 January 2019 the applicant submitted a petition to the Ministry of Justice, claiming that he had been subjected to ill-treatment by prison officers during his admission to Trabzon Beşikdüzü T-Type Prison on 8 January 2019 and also during his admission to Rize L-Type Prison the following day.
Two criminal investigations were initiated into the applicant’s allegations by the Rize Public Prosecutor’s Office and Trabzon Vakfıkebir Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Rize public prosecutor pressed charges against certain prison officers for the incident that had occurred during the applicant’s admission to the Rize L‑Type Prison on 9 January 2019. There is no information in the case file regarding the outcome.
According to the prison administration’s decisions in the case file, two letters written by the applicant to the Human Rights Association were withheld by the prison administration on 18 January 2019. Additionally, on 5 April 2019 the Rize enforcement judge approved a decision to monitor the applicant’s meetings with his lawyer for three months. On 6 August 2019 that decision was extended for another three months.
On 23 September 2019 the Trabzon Vakfıkebir public prosecutor issued a decision not to prosecute any officers concerning the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment during his admission to the Beşikdüzü T-Type Prison. The prosecutor noted that the video footage of the applicant’s entry to the prison revealed no indications of the applicant being subjected to ill-treatment. Lacking any witness statements or medical reports demonstrating that the applicant had been subjected to ill-treatment, the public prosecutor found that there was no evidence to bring charges against the prison officers. An objection lodged by the applicant against that decision was rejected by the Trabzon Magistrate’s Court.
On 16 September 2020 the Constitutional Court found the applicant’s individual application, in which he had complained of a violation of prohibition of ill-treatment, inadmissible for being manifestly ill-founded.
Relying on Articles 3 and 13, the applicant submits that he was subjected to ill‑treatment by prison officers during his admission to Beşikdüzü T‑Type Prison, and that the investigation into his allegations was ineffective. He further argues that the restrictions on his communications with the Human Rights Association, and the monitoring of his meetings with his lawyer, prevented him from participating effectively in the criminal investigation.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has the applicant been subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment at the hands of State agents in Trabzon Beşikdüzü T‑Type Prison, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention (see Bouyid v. Belgium [GC], no. 23380/09, §§ 81-90 and 100-01, ECHR 2015)?
2. Having regard to the procedural protection from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, was the investigation into the alleged incident on 8 January 2019 by the domestic authorities in breach of Article 3 of the Convention (see Bouyid, cited above, §§ 114‑23)?
The parties are invited to provide information regarding the outcome of the criminal proceedings initiated by the Rize Public Prosecutor’s Office against the prison officials at Rize L-Type Prison. The Government are further invited to submit the medical reports drawn up in respect of the applicant following the applicant’s transfer on 8 and 9 January 2019.