The Turkish Constitutional Court has ordered the government to pay TL 27,500 ($4,750) in damages to journalist Erdal İmrek, who was subjected to police violence while covering a demonstration in İstanbul in 2014, the Diken news website reported.
The court’s ruling, published on Tuesday by the country’s Official Gazette, said the police’s treatment of İmrek was in breach of freedom of speech and press freedom as well as a prohibition on treatment incompatible with human dignity.
The incident occurred in 2014 during a demonstration held on the first anniversary of the countrywide anti-government Gezi Park protests.
İmrek was among a group of journalists who were prevented by the police from following the event, which led to a heated argument. In the ensuing altercation, he was apprehended and beaten by police officers who at some point sprayed his face with tear gas at close range.
