 on Tuesday ruled that Turkey had violated the right to liberty and security of jailed businessman and philanthropist Cafer Tekin İpek by failing to provide sufficient grounds for keeping him in pretrial detention for more than three years.){kind=link}
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Tuesday ruled that Turkey had violated the right to liberty and security of jailed businessman and philanthropist Cafer Tekin İpek by failing to provide sufficient grounds for keeping him in pretrial detention for more than three years.
The İpek family has faced legal challenges and government scrutiny since Turkey launched a crackdown on the faith-based Gülen movement more than a decade ago. Several members of the İpek family have been charged with crimes and their assets, including Koza İpek Holding, have been seized.
Tekin İpek, 61, has been behind bars since April 2016 and was convicted of terrorism-related charges and financial crimes in 2021.
His application to the ECtHR, filed later in 2016, focused on the period before his conviction, when he remained in detention while standing trial.
The Strasbourg court found a violation of Article 5 § 3of the European Convention on Human Rights, which requires that people arrested or detained on suspicion of an offense be brought promptly before a judge and tried within a reasonable time or released pending trial.
The court said Turkish courts had relied on stereotyped and abstract grounds when ordering the continuation of İpek’s detention, citing the state of the evidence and the risk of flight or tampering with evidence without carrying out an individual assessment.
Although such grounds may justify detention in the early stages of criminal proceedings, the court said, their repeated use in formulaic terms was not enough to justify İpek’s lengthy pretrial detention, which lasted three years, eight months and 15 days.
The ECtHR ordered Turkey to pay İpek 2,000 euros in nonpecuniary damages and 500 euros in costs and expenses.
The court, however, declared inadmissible İpek’s complaint under Article 5 § 1 of the convention, which concerns the lawfulness of detention.
It said reports prepared by Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), Capital Markets Board (SPK) and anti-smuggling and organized crime police unit (KOM) contained conclusions that could amount to reasonable suspicion for his initial detention.
The court distinguished between the standard required for a criminal conviction and the lower threshold needed for arrest or initial detention, finding that the reports could provide a basis for the original deprivation of liberty.
İpek’s application was lodged with the court in November 2016. The ECtHR communicated the case to the Turkish government in August 2022, nearly six years later.
The long delay in the case had prompted criticism from Nacho Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, who in January 2025 described the delay as “strange” and said similar cases had already been resolved.
İpek is the brother of Akın İpek, the founder of Koza İpek Holding, who has been living in the United Kingdom since 2015.
The holding, active in sectors including mining, energy, construction and media, was among the first major business groups seized by the government during its crackdown on people and institutions accused of links to the Gülen movement.
The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating an abortive coup in July 2016, although the movement strongly denies any involvement.
Ankara also accuses the movement of earlier attempts to undermine the government, including a 2013 corruption investigation that implicated people close to then-prime minister and current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Koza İpek Holding and affiliated companies were put under the control of government-appointed trustees in October 2015, later transferred to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) and then to the Turkey Wealth Fund by a presidential decision in August 2024.
İpek family members have also faced criminal proceedings in Turkey.
In May 2021 the 4th Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice upheld prison sentences handed down to members of the family a year earlier, including a sentence of 79 years, eight months for Cafer Tekin İpek and 11 years, eight months for his mother, Melek İpek, on charges including membership in a terrorist organization and tax evasion.
Melek İpek, known before the government crackdown for her charitable activities, was sent to prison in November 2024 at the age of 78 to serve her sentence.
Akın İpek did not return to Turkey after the seizure of the family’s businesses. A British court in 2019 rejected Turkey’s request for his extradition.