The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 13 January 2009 as a Chamber composed of: Françoise Tulkens, President, Ireneu Cabral Barreto, Vladimiro Zagrebelsky, Danutė Jočienė, András Sajó, Nona Tsotsoria, Işıl Karakaş, judges, and Sally Dollé, Section Registrar, Having regard to the above applications lodged on 25 April 2003, Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicants, Mr Ahmet Öztekin, Mr Celal Aygen, Mr Orhan Göçen, Mr İdris Ertaş and Mr Ferhat Asık, are Turkish nationals who were born in 1977, 1977, 1983, 1980 and 1979 respectively and all live in Diyarbakır. They were represented before the Court by Mr M.Z. Dündar, a lawyer practising in Diyarbakır. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent. The facts of the cases,...
CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE COUNCIL OF EUROPE COUR EUROPÉENNE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS SECOND SECTION DECISION Applications nos. 21249/03 and 24845/03 by Ahmet ÖZTEKİN and Celal AYGEN and Others against Turkey The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 13 January 2009 as a Chamber composed of: Françoise Tulkens, President, Ireneu Cabral Barreto, Vladimiro Zagrebelsky, Danutė Jočienė, András Sajó, Nona Tsotsoria, Işıl Karakaş, judges, and Sally Dollé, Section Registrar, Having regard to the above applications lodged on 25 April 2003, Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicants, Mr Ahmet Öztekin, Mr Celal Aygen, Mr Orhan Göçen, Mr İdris Ertaş and Mr Ferhat Asık, are Turkish nationals who were born in 1977, 1977, 1983, 1980 and 1979 respectively and all live in Diyarbakır. They were represented before the Court by Mr M.Z. Dündar, a lawyer practising in Diyarbakır. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent. The facts of the cases, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
2 ÖZTEKİN AND OTHERS v. TURKEY DECISION On 25 October 2002 the applicants were arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of their membership of an illegal organisation, namely Kürdistan İslami Devrim Hareketi1. On 1 November 2002 the applicants were brought before a judge, who ordered their remand in custody. On 11 December 2002 the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır State Security Court filed a bill of indictment against the applicants and twenty- five other persons, accusing them of founding and being members of the aforementioned illegal organisation. COMPLAINT The applicants complained that their detention in police custody for seven days had violated their right to be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorised by law to exercise judicial power as safeguarded under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention. THE LAW The Court received the following declaration from the Government: “I declare that the Government of Turkey offer to pay ex gratia 1,500 (one thousand five hundred) euros to each of the applicants in respect of non-pecuniary damages and 500 (five hundred) euros in respect of costs and expenses jointly with a view to securing a friendly settlement of the above-mentioned cases pending before the European Court of Human Rights. These sums, which are to cover any non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, will be converted into new Turkish liras (YTL) at the rate applicable on the date of payment, to a bank account named by the applicants and/or their duly authorised representative. This sum shall be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the event of failure to pay these sums within the said three-month pe...