ECHR: Persisting Impunity for shooting to kill at Cyprus buffer zone 20 years after Berlin Wall fall

    Impunity for shooting to kill at Cyprus' Bufer Zone persists until now (2009), even for  killing an unarmed youngster aged 19 who saluted Turkish soldiers as "Brothers", or gravely wounding a 60 years old Woman, etc, ECHR denounced condemning Ankara twice in Strasbourg, the same week that new German Government anounced an EU-Russia-USA Summit for Berlin Wall's fall 20th Anniversary, and adopted a 2009-2014 program stressing Turkey's obligation to "strictly fullfil all EU Criteria" if it wants to continue lucrative EU Negotiations.  

    The move came while the old formula that EU - Turkey "Negotiations will continue", whatever might happen during the next Years,  as in the previous coalition with SPD's "Socialists" (for 2005-2009), was now (for the 2009-2014 new period), skipped, on the contrary, by the new German Government coalition of ChristianDemocrats and Liberals..

    All 3 tragic Cyprus' cases judged by ECHR this week obviously point at Berlin Wall's fall, in one way or another :

 In the 1st case, an "unarmed" Youngster (aged only 19), "Stelios", was walking "alone" , in broad Daylight, waving his hat to his Turkish Cypriot compatriots and "shouting : -"Come Brother !", ECHR notes.

    But he was shot and killed "by Turkish or Turkish Cypriot Soldiers", without any previous warning, as ECHR found, based on UNO's data which report that only "a single shot was heard".  

    - "At that moment", the "isolated man" "was outnumbered by the (Turkish) Security forces", who were "in complete control of the area, and it would have been possible for them to stop Mr Panayi without jeopardising his life", EuroJudges found.

    Moreover, ECHR "regrets that the Turkish or Turkish-Cypriot forces hampered the Humanitarian intervention of UNFICYP soldiers", "preventing immediate Medical care from being administered to the victim of the shooting". "Thus acting in a manner which is incompatible with the obligation to protect Life", even while "a seriously injured man lying on the ground in Mr Panayi's circumstances would hardly have been capable of posing any threat whatsoever to armed ..soldiers".

    - "UN Secretary-General reported that UNFICYP soldiers had been prevented from reaching Stelios Kalli Panayi “by Turkish-Cypriot soldiers who fired shots in the direction of the UNFICYP soldiers each time the latter tried to move forward”. This was described by the UNO as “Hostile action, including live Fire against UNFICYP", EuroJudges noted.

     Thus, ECHR concluded "that Stelios Kalli Panayi was killed by agents of the respondent State (of Turkey), and that the use of force was not justified by any ..exception"

    But the total Impunity of those responsible for the illegal Killing persists until now (2009), also denounced ECHR :

    - "As regards Criminal-law remedies, the Court observes that the (Turkish) Government have not provided any information concerning an Investigation into the circumstances of the shooting". "Moreover, even assuming that an independent body had started an Investigation, ...it would have been pending since ..1996 without achieving any substantial results" until 2009 : i.e. for more than 13 Years !...

    - Thus, the European "Court finds that the (Turkish) authorities failed to carry out an effective Criminal Investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Stelios Kalli Panayi. ...Accordingly ...there has been a violation of (the Human Right to Life) in this respect also"

    The victim's Family, his Father and Mother, who "had been Refugees since the 1974 Turkish military intervention", and "had raised their son at a considerable cost until the age of 19", risked also to be abandoned now alone in their old age, after their unique son's killing. Contrary to their legitimate "expectation" that "as in other Mediterranean Member States of the European Union, children were supposed to take responsibility for their parents' care and social welfare in old age", EuroJudges noted.

     But it is astonishing that ECHR's previous leadership left another case, of even more atrocious brutality, concerning a Woman shot and gravely wounded by Turkish Soldiers close to the Buffer Zone, without taking any action in Strasbourg for .. 12 Years : 1996 - 2008, until the victim ...died meanwhile in 2005, vainly waiting during 9 Years from the European Court any elementary Justice !

    It's only ...12 Years after the victim lodged its application to Strasbourg, while still suffering from grave Health consequences from wounds provoked by Turkish soldiers' gunshots, that ECHR decided to simply .. transmit her case file to the respondent Turkish Authorities, in 2008" ! If any other, national court, had delayed so much, it would have been certainly condemned by .. ECHR for excessive delay into providing justice, (Article 6 ECHR).

    Georgia Andreou, a 59 years old  Poor Woman, refugee obiged to work as "Hotel Cleaner" for just "414 Cyprus £ as Monthly Salary", was "hit in the abdomen by a Bullet" fired by "Turkish or Turkish Cypriot soldiers", and "collapsed", "was taken to (a) Hospital" and "operated on, but lost one of her Kidneys", became "Unable to work" after "3 Surgical Operations", and was still suffering, many years afterwards, from "Pleuritis", "post-Traumatic Stress and Depression", ECHR noted.

    Her story starts when, in 1996 "over one hundred Cypriot and other European motorcyclists set off from Berlin, and made their way through EU to Cyprus" for "a demonstration aimed at protesting against the Turkish occupation".  "One of the Greek-Cypriot demonstrators, Anastasios Isaak, was beaten to death" by more than 10 Turkish extremists imported from mainland Turkey at the Buffer Zone, who persisted to hit their victim with sticks and to throw stones to his head, even when he fell down, lying at the feet of his aggressors, until he was atrociously killed by a mob, as well known Films revealed. ECHR condemned Turkey on 2008 for "the killing of ..Isaak, and (for) the failure to conduct any effective investigation" in order to find and punish those responsible for the killing, EuroJudges remind now.

    Isaak "was a Friend of her Son", and Georgia "attended (his) Funeral", after which, another unarmed Greek Cypriot demonstrator,; "Solomos Solomou, crossed the ...Ceasefire Line and started to climb a flagpole. He was shot and later died from his injuries". ECHR condemned Turkey in 2008 for "the killing of ..Solomou, and (for) the failure to conduct an efficient Investigation".

    After "Solomou was ..shot by a Turkish or Turkish-Cypriot soldier (he) fell to the ground with blood flowing profusely from his neck (the autopsy later revealed that Solomou was hit by 5 Bullets),  

    Then, "Turkish or Turkish-Cypriot soldiers ..proceeded to fire some 25 to 50 rounds indiscriminately into the Crowd" .."UNFICYP ...Commanders ...observed uniformed Turkish or Turkish-Cypriot military personnel kneeling down and firing in the direction of the (unarmed) Demonstrators. As a result of the indiscriminate shooting by Turkish or Turkish-Cypriot soldiers, 2 British UNFICYP soldiers were shot from behind, and 2 Greek-Cypriot Civilians were also hit by Gunfire". Georgia Andreou, "one of the civilians, who sustained a serious gunshot wound to the abdomen, was standing outside the UN buffer zone close to the ..checkpoint", UNO's Report denounces, as ECHR observed.

    UNO "strongly protest(ed) the totally unwarranted use of force by Turkish or Turkish-Cypriot military personnel which resulted in the killing of Solomou and in injuries to 2 Peacekeepers and 2 Civilians", EuroJudges note.

    "The Court attaches ..weight to the fact that, according to the eyewitnesses, the opening of fire was totally Unwarranted and Not even preceded by a Warning shot". And Georgia even "had not crossed the ceasefire line, (but) had been hit by the bullet while standing outside the UN buffer zone", ECHR's judgement denounces.

    The gravely wounded Woman, died later by "Brain Strokes" provoked by "high blood Pressure", following "post-traumatic Stress and Depression", after she experienced these tragic events. While vainly waiting 9 years for Justice to be done by the European Court, (1996-2005), among several related sufferings, even "a ..Metallic element was detected on the right side of her Liver, possibly due to the Bullet from the Gun". The Doctor who examined her all these years observed that "she seemed  frightened from the events that occurred and very troubled by the Surgery and the side Effects....there was an Intense Stressful reaction as well as indication of Anxiety and Depression. ...with indication of Phobias. Her sleep was disturbed and she developed Panic Attacks that were very hard to deal with and treat. The events of the Shooting were being revisited in her mind and her narration of the Stressful, Scary and Painful events stigmatized her until her death, .. without significant improvement until the end of her life.”
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    Compared to the Gravity of the Andreou case, there is no need to describe in detail also the 3rd Cyprus' "Buffer Zone" case, judged by ECHR this week, on Greek Cypriot Refugee Woman Mrs Andri Olymbiou, aged 60, who, in addition to the "continuing total denial of acces" to her Family Home and Property in the Occupied Territories of Cyprus, was also harshly-streated by Turkish Security forces when they brutally dispersed a Demonstration of more than 100 Women, throwing several of them, ( including Olymbiou), in Prison for more than three days.

    ECHR condemned anew Turkey for persisting to violate Greek Cypriot Refugees and displaced persons' Human Right to return to their Family Homes and/or use their private Properties in the Occupied Territories of Cyprus held by Ankara's Army.

    - "As a refugee, I have an inextinguishable desire to return. I want to return there where I lived my Childhood. I think that both the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots should have this right. I believe that no one has the right and the authority to throw us out of our Houses. As long as I am living, I will want to return to my house. For me there is no Green Line. There is a United Cyprus", had simply stated Olymbiou before being thrown to Prison, ECHR notes.

    Olymbiou, together with other 100 Greek Cypriot Women, had demonstrated at a School located in the Buffer Zone, (against Turkish Military Occupation, for the truth to be found on "MISSING" persons, and to support Refugees), the same Year that in Germany the infamous Berlin Wall had fallen : 1989.
 
             This makes it even more clear that what is common in all these 3 Cyprus' cases chosen this week by ECHR is that they all refer to Turkish brutal atrocities repeatedly committed at the "Buffer Zone" which still divides Cyprus, and where a scandalously total Impunity of killers persists until now (2009), while, on the contrary, the new German Government prepares a PanEuropean and Trans-Atlantic Summit to celebrate 20 Years since Berlin Wall's fall...