Turkey Takes the Lead in Europe in Violations in 2010

Among 47 countries under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, Turkey ranks at the top position regarding the number of convictions in 2010.

The court decided 278 files of applicants from Turkey. 228 of these cases comprised violations of at least one article of the European Convention on Human Rights, the court announced. Only nine files concerning Turkey did not include any violation of rights as ruled by the ECHR.

Turkey is followed by Russia (217 judgments), Romania (143) and the Ukraine (109).

Too much even for the ECHR

At the same time, the work load of the ECHR has considerably increased according to the court's statement.

"Approximately 139,650 applications were pending before a judicial formation on 1 January 2011. More than half of these applications had been lodged against one of four countries: Russia, Turkey, Romania or Ukraine", the court announced. 10.9 percent of all applications come from Turkey.

In 2010, the ECHR considered a total of 41,000 applications. 1,499 decisions came out of 2,607 applications.

37 percent of all decisions made by the Strasbourg court were related to violations of the right to a fair trial. Decisions regarding Turkey were mostly based on violations in aspect to the fairness and the length of trials. (EÜ/EÖ/VK)

Click here to view the ECHR facts sheet.