The Constitutional Court (AYM) ruled that the right to life was violated in material and procedural terms in the application of Burcu and Yücel Demirkaya, who lost their mothers in the Pamukova accelerated train massacre in 2004, and decided to pay 90 liras of non-pecuniary damages.
The Supreme Court, which examined the application, criticized the fact that no state official was punished despite the fact that those responsible were identified through expert reports.
“Response rating was not sufficient”
He then made the following assessment: “In the investigation initiated immediately after the accident, it was observed that the evidence was collected quickly, the conditions under which the incident took place were revealed, and the responsible persons were identified. On the other hand, there is no criminal case filed against public officials who are considered to have faults in providing the necessary superstructure, technical equipment and inspection for the safe operation of the railway.
“The criminal case against the drivers, whose faults and responsibilities were accepted by all judicial units participating in the judicial process, were dropped due to the statute of limitations.
“As a result, in an event with such grave consequences, there is no person whose criminal responsibility has been definitively decided by the judicial organs, despite the fact that they were determined by expert reports.
“In this case, it cannot be said that the judicial system fulfills the deterrent role in preventing violations of the right to life in the concrete case, and it has been evaluated that the degree of reaction shown by the authorities in the face of the seriousness of the incident is not sufficient.
In the reasoning of the decision of the Constitutional Court, it was concluded that “It is not possible to say that the competent authorities took the necessary and sufficient measures within the scope of their positive obligation to eliminate the risks to life and physical integrity due to a dangerous activity such as railway transportation. For the reasons explained, it was decided that the material dimension of the right to life was violated.
Second decision in a year
The decision of the AYM is the second in the year. In the application of Serap Sivri, who also lost her husband in January 2022, the high court decided that there was a "violation of the right to life" and that the proceedings were left on "protracted" and ordered a compensation of 50 thousand TL.
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