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Constitutional Court rejects Nishanyan appeal

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  • Constitutional Court rejects Nishanyan appeal

    Constitutional Court rejects NiÅ?anyan appeal

    Emre Can DaÄ?lıoÄ?lu 04.02.2015 10:28 NEWS


    The appeal to the Constitutional Court regarding Sevan NiÅ?anyan's
    cases for opposition to the Code of Protection of Cultural and Natural
    Properties for which he received long term prison sentences has been
    rejected. The next legal step is the ECHR.

    In its verdict dated January 30, the Constitutional Court ruled that
    the appeal displayed a `clear lack of basis' since no explicit
    arbitrariness had been detected in NiÅ?anyan's trial process.
    NiÅ?anyan's lawyer Ergin Cinmen stated that with this ruling of the
    Constitutional Court they had exhausted domestic legal remedies, and
    that they would be applying to the European Court of Human Rights
    (ECHR) in the coming days.

    Grounds of appeal

    The appeal filed on 23 September 2014 covered the sentences attributed
    to NiÅ?anyan in reference to Article 65 of the Law on `deliberately
    causing damage to immovable cultural assets under protection'. The
    appeal was founded on the fact that the allegation had not been
    serviced to NiÅ?anyan and that therefore NiÅ?anyan could not have known
    the specific criminal scope of his acts. The prior cancellation of the
    relevant law by the Constitutional Court had been presented as a
    further rationale.

    In response to the appeal, in its verdict, the Constitutional Court
    justified the decision of the local court that ruled for the sentence
    and that of the Court of Cassation, which approved it, and accepted
    the view that NiÅ?anyan was aware of the fact that the site where he
    committed the attributed crime was a Protected Area. The
    Constitutional Court also ruled that the Court of Cassation had
    approved a crime that had been committed before the Constitutional
    Court had annulled the relevant law. In the conclusion for the
    verdict, the Constitutional Court stated that there was no apparent
    mistake in valuation or explicit arbitrariness in the cases, clearly
    underlining that the Constitutional Court would not examine such
    cases, and that therefore the appeal was unacceptable because it
    displayed a `clear lack of basis'.

    Next step: ECHR

    NiÅ?anyan's lawyer Ergin Cinmen who filed the application to the
    Constitutional Court said the following regarding the verdict: `The
    Constitutional Court had previously ruled that the procedure related
    to crime NiÅ?anyan has been sentenced for was a violation of the
    Constitution. Thus the Court, at present, has confirmed NiÅ?anyan's
    confinement by attributing to him a crime that itself found to be in
    violation of the Constitution in its nature. Since with this ruling of
    the Constitutional Court we have exhausted domestic legal remedies, we
    will be applying to the European Court of Human Rights in the coming
    days. However, the procedure there progresses very slowly.'

    NiÅ?anyan has been imprisoned since January 2014, and he also has a
    pending prison sentence of 14 years 2 months inflicted for opposition
    to the Construction Law and the Code of Protection of Cultural and
    Natural Properties which has not been approved by the Court of
    Cassation as of yet. NiÅ?anyan is currently the only person in Turkey
    who is serving a prison sentence in a closed prison in relation to
    these specific crimes.


    http://www.agos.com.tr/en/article/11103/constitutional-court-rejects-nisanyan-appeal




    From: A. Papazian
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