Item 33 - Case of Mansur v. Turkey (14/1994/461/53), Judgment

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Published judgment in the Sadi Mansur case (application no. 16026/90, European Court of Human Rights case number 14/1994/461/542). Mansur was an Iranian national in the process of acquiring Turkish nationality when he was arrested in Greece for drug trafficking between Greece and Turkey. On 12 June 1981 the Salonika Court of Appeal (Greece) sentenced him to four years' imprisonment for drug trafficking
between Greece and Turkey. On 18 April 1984, at the end of a preliminary investigation opened after the conviction in Greece, the Ipsala public prosecutor's office committed Mr Mansur and A.D., his alleged accomplice, for trial at the Edirne First Assize Court on a charge of exporting drugs. Protracted proceedings ensued over the next seven years. On 19 February 1991, the Edirne court sentenced Mansur to thirty years' imprisonment. In its judgment it pointed out that Mr Mansur had already been given a sentence of four years' imprisonment in Greece for the same facts. Mr Mansur applied to the Commission on 23 November 1989. He complained of the length both of his detention pending trial (Article 5 paragraph 3 of the Convention) and of the criminal proceedings against him (Article 6 paragraph 1 of the Convention).
On 8 June 1995, the Court:
i) dismissed the preliminary objection of lack of jurisdiction ratione temporis;
ii) dismissed the objection that domestic remedies were not exhausted;
iii) dismissed the objection based on loss of victim status;
iv) held that there had been a breach of Article 5 paragraph 3 of the Convention on account of the length of the applicant's detention;
v) held that there had been a breach of Article 6 paragraph 1 of the Convention on account of the length of the criminal proceedings;
vi) held that the Turkish Government was to pay the applicant, 30,000 French francs in respect of non-pecuniary damage and 30,000 French francs in respect of costs and fees, (less 14,106.50 French francs received in legal aid).
This was not a Kurdish Litigation Project case. The full judgment is available for viewing at https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-57932

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