A three-day visit to Moscow for an exchange of experience was organised for a group of fourteen representatives of the Ministry of Justice and members of the judiciary of Turkey. During the visit they met their Russian colleagues from the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice and the Ombudsperson’s Office, shared their experience and discussed challenges in dealing with allegations of ill-treatment and torture committed by law enforcement authorities as well as other related questions.
The interlocutors discussed national judicial systems, their strong points and the issues requiring improvement, statistics of the respective cases, influence of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) and the following domestic reforms. In addition, they shared new challenges following the development of the technologies and new realities, envisaged reforms and ways of implementation of the Court’s case-law. The parties even tried to find a solution to a very complicated case of child abduction.
The visit enhanced mutual co-operation in criminal matters between the parties. Such bilateral exchanges contribute to exploring possibilities for both countries to further strengthen national remedies in fight against ill-treatment and torture as well as other violations of human rights. For instance, the role of the Investigation Committee and prosecution in Russia, as well as the individual application before the Turkish Constitutional Court as a national remedy in the cases of alleged violations of the rights and freedom under the Turkish Constitution and the European Convention of human rights.
This activity was organized within the Project “Improving the Effectiveness of Investigation of Allegations of Ill-Treatment and Combatting Impunity in Turkey”, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and Human Rights Trust Fund and implemented by the Council of Europe in partnership with the Human Rights Department within the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Turkey. Participants were part of the Training of Trainers on Article 3 of the Convention, organized under this Project and took part in different project’s activates.
