The ECtHR decision on mufti Şerif 23 years ago!
Mufti of Komotini, İbrahim Şerif, recalled the last case of the lawsuit that was won at the European Court of Human Rights 23 years ago, as a result of his legal struggle regarding the title of mufti.
The Elected Mufti of Komotini, İbrahim Şerif, who is also the chairman of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority Advisory Board, reminded the outcome of the case that was given and won regarding the mufti, in a post on his personal twitter account on Wednesday, December 14th.
İbrahim Şerif, who was accused of the crime of "extortion of office", applied to the European Court of Human Rights after exhausting domestic remedies, the court found Greece guilty and sentenced the country to pay 10,000 USD in compensation.
İbrahim Şerif shared the following on his private twitter account:
“23 years ago today, with the decision taken as a result of our application to the European Court of Human Rights, where I was sentenced to 8 months in prison regarding the Mufti, Greece was unanimously sentenced to pay me 10,000 dollars in compensation.”
HOW THE PROCESS STARTED, HOW FINALIZED
We share some parts of an article in the national press in Türkiye at that time about the case of the Elected Mufti of Komotini, İbrahim Şerif, before the ECtHR.
Some parts of the news article written by Gurbet Gökçe for Milliyet in 19-12-1999 is as follows:
“The Greek government did not recognize İbrahim Şerif who was elected by the Turkish minority in Komotini in 1995, and appointed Meco Cemali instead. Not only that, the Greek government accused İbrahim Şerif "of usurping the place of the mufti and of wearing a robe and declaring himself a mufti" and filed a lawsuit against him.
The trial, opened in 1995, lasted for five years and the Thessaloniki Court found İbrahim Şerif guilty and sentenced him to eight months in prison. Upon İbrahim Şerif's appeal to the Court of Appeal, the sentence was reduced to six months.
Şerif, who paid a fine of close to 4 thousand dollars, again appealed to the Greek Supreme Court.
However, the Supreme Court also found Şerif guilty. The Mufti of Komotini, whose domestic remedies were exhausted, applied to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
The European Court of Human Rights determined that there was an injustice and decided to discuss the case.
The court announced the outcome of the case and sentenced Greece to pay a fine of 2 million 700 thousand drachmas to İbrahim Şerif.”
