Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The European Court of Human Rights punishes Turkey on pepper spray use

The European Court of Human Rights sentenced Turkey to pay 10,000 Euros to Ali Güneş, who was pepper sprayed by the police in 2004 during a peaceful demonstration against the NATO summit in in Istanbul (you can read a full report in Turkish on the daily Radikal).

This is an important decision as it bears on the routine use of pepper spray by the Turkish police against demonstrators, often in student protests (for examples, see two previous reports on GIT - North America).