Chitos v. Greece (application no. 51637/12) (AİHS md. 4)

Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi’ne göre, “İstifa etmiş bir ordu subayına kalan hizmet yıllarını satın almak için vazedilen prosedür, Sözleşmeye aykırıdır.”

Chitos v. Greece kararı, hizmet döneminin sona ermesinden önce istifa etmek için devlete belirli bir ödeme yapmaya zorlanan bir ordu subayı ile ilgilidir. AİHM’ye göre, ulusal otoriteler, ordu subayının kalan hizmet yıllarını satın almak için toptan ödeme yapmasını isteyerek; bir başka deyişle, o kişiye taksitler hâlinde ödeme imkânı sunmayarak, bu kişinin “bireysel hakkı ile genel olarak topluluğun çıkarları” arasında adil bir denge tutturamamıştır. Sonuç olarak, zorla çalışma yasağı, ihlal edilmiştir.

Chitos v. Greece kararı, “http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/” adresinden erişilebilirdir.

Chitos v. Greece kararının basın duyurusu, “http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/webservices/content/pdf/003-5098655-6283740” adresinden erişilebilirdir.

Bu basın duyurusunun özeti, İngilizce haliyle, aşağıdaki gibidir:

Procedure imposed on a resigned army officer for buying back his remaining years of service was contrary to the Convention

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Chitos v. Greece (application no. 51637/12) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

A violation of Article 4 § 2 (prohibition of forced labour) of the European Convention on Human Rights

The case concerned an army officer who had been forced to pay a fee to the State in order to resign before the end of his period of service.

This is the first time that the Court has ruled on this matter.

The Court considered that the State’s desire to secure a return on its investment in the training of army officers and military medical officers and to ensure adequate staff numbers justified prohibiting their resignation from the forces for a specified period – to be determined by the State – and to subject them to paying a fee in order to cover the subsistence and training costs which it had incurred during their years of training, in addition to paying remuneration and social benefits. The Court added that military medical officers enjoyed privileges unavailable to civilian medical students during their studies and specialist training.

Nevertheless, by ordering Mr Chitos to pay the sum due in order to buy back his remaining years of service, to the tune of 109,527 euros, without any facility for paying in instalments, even though he had had an appeal pending before the Court of Audit, the authorities had failed to strike a fair balance between protecting Mr Chitos’ individual right and the interests of the community at large.