ECHR Sentences Turkey To Pay Compensations To Former MPs Of Banned FP

STRASOBURG - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Turkey violated Article 3 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights about free elections in a lawsuit filed by Merve Kavakci, Nazli Ilicak and Mehmet Silay, former MPs of the banned Virtue Party (RP).
The court sentenced Turkey to pay compensations of 4 thousand euro to Kavakci, 5 thousand euro to Ilicak and 3 thousand euro to Silay.
In 2005, the 3rd Chamber of the ECHR listened to views of both defendant and plaintiffs in which lawyers of former FP MPs claimed that closure of the FP was contrary to the both Turkish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Turkish Constitutional Court banned the FP in 2001 on the ground that the political party became center of anti-secular activities.