BOZKURT v. TURKEY

The applicant, Mr Mehmet Bozkurt, is a Turkish national, who was born in 1975 and is currently serving a prison sentence. 2 3. On 25 January 2007 as the applicant, whilst in prison, was talking to his brother over the phone in Kurdish, the prison guards intervened, ending the conversation without any warning. 4. On 27 January 2007 the applicant filed a criminal complaint with the Erzurum Public Prosecutor and accused the prison authorities of abuse of their office. 5. Following an investigation, the Erzurum Public Prosecutor held that the applicant’s brother’s name was not included in the list of names of his relatives who did not speak Turkish. It was also noted that the applicant had only indicated the names of his mother and sister in that list. The prosecutor further recalled that pursuant to Rule 88 § 2 (p) of the Regulation on prison management and execution of sentences, in principle all telephone conversations had to be conducted in Turkish unless the convicted prisoner did not speak Turkish. Should the person with whom the prisoner wished to speak not understand Turkish, an inquiry would be carried out to verify that information. Accordingly, on 14 February 2007 the Erzurum Public Prosecutor decided that the prison authorities had acted in line with domestic legislation. 6. The applicant filed an objection with the Oltu Assize Court, seeking to have that decision quashed. 7. On 15 May 2007 the Oltu Assize Court upheld the decision of the Erzurum Public Prosecutor. 8. A full description of the domestic law and practice at the relevant time may be found in Nusret Kaya and Others v. Turkey (nos. 43750/06, 43752/06, 32054/08, 37753/08 and 60915/08, §§ 22-25, ECHR 2014 (extracts)). 9. A full description of the relevant domestic law may be found in Yıldız and Yanak v. Turkey (dec.), no. 44013/07, §§ 9-17, 27 May 2014.