A Turkish prosecutor who had dropped a case involving human rights violations in Turkey’s Kurdish district of Cizre was prohibited access to vital military information on the grounds of state secrets, a Turkish official admitted during a hearing at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Monday.
When the ECtHR judges asked a representative for the Turkish state on Monday if the prosecutor had evaluated military plans in Cizre before deciding to suspend the complaints of the plaintiffs, the state official responded that the prosecutor was denied access to the information as it was deemed a state secret, according to reporting by the Artı Gerçek news site.
Ömer Elçi and Orhan Tunç sued the Turkish state for damages incurred during a curfew in 2015 and 2016. Turkey had previously decided not to pursue the case despite the plaintiffs’ claim that the curfew and the operations in the area jeopardized their lives due to bombs being dropped on their properties.
The ECtHR judges also questioned the measures taken by the Turkish state to protect civilians during the curfew and operations.