STRASBOURG (Reuters)–The European Court of Human Rights agreed on Monday to take up a legal suit filed by Denmark against Turkey alleging torture against a Danish national.
The suit accused police of torturing Kemal Koc–a 42-year Dane of Kurdish descent–while he was being held in Turkey in 1996 on suspicion of bringing funds from Denmark for the Kurdistan Workers Party. He was later expelled.
It was the first suit concerning an individual to be filed by a state against a fellow member country of the 41-state Council of Europe which monitors democracy and human rights in Europe.
It can take the court months or even years to issue a verdict.