CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 6 septembre 2004

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s33165EBA { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s9F8EB0C0 { width:18.63pt; display:inline-block } .s9E97F54A { width:85.05pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   412 6.9.2004   Press release issued by the Registrar   Fact-Finding Mission to Turkey in Hunger-Strike Cases   A delegation of judges from the European Court of Human Rights is conducting a fact-finding mission in Turkey from 6 to 11 September in relation to applications from around 50 detainees allegedly suffering the after-effects of being on long-term hunger-strike.   The applicants in Balyemez v. Turkey (application no. 32495/03) and 52 other cases concerning Turkey all claim to have developed Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome [1] in 2001, as a result of being on long-term hunger strike. Given their state of health, they complain that   their continued detention in prison would be in violation of Articles 2 (right to life) and 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) of the European Convention on Human Rights.     Three judges from the Third Section of the Court – Ireneu Cabral Barreto (Portuguese), Margarita Tsatsa-Nikolovska (citizen of “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”) and Kristaq Traja (Albanian) – assisted by Section Registrar Vincent Berger and four other members of the Court’s Registry, will be visiting prisons in Tekirdağ, Kocaeli and Istanbul from 6 to 8 September inclusive. Between 8 and 11 September, three medical experts nominated by the Court will examine the applicants.   ***   Further information about the Court can be found on its Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Press contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1 November 1998 it has sat as a full-time Court composed of an equal number of judges to that of the States party to the Convention. The Court examines the admissibility and merits of applications submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in exceptional cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Court’s judgments. [1] A brain disorder involving loss of specific brain functions caused by thiamine (B1) deficiency.