The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 4 September 2007 as a Chamber composed of: Mrs F. TULKENS, President, Mr I. CABRAL BARRETO, Mr R. TÜRMEN, Mr M. UGREKHELIDZE, Mr V. ZAGREBELSKY, Mrs A. MULARONI, Mr D. POPOVIĆ, judges, and Mrs F. ELENS-PASSOS, Deputy Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 July 2003, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicant, Mr Cengiz Bayır, is a Turkish national who was born in 1973 and lives in Istanbul. He is represented before the Court by Mr Metin Filorinali, a lawyer practising in Istanbul. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant and as they appear from the documents submitted by him, may be summarised as follows. The applicant was arrested in Istanbul on 4 April 1996 by police officers from the anti-terrorism branch of the Istanbul Police Headquarters, and was...
CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE COUNCIL OF EUROPE COUR EUROPÉENNE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS SECOND SECTION PARTIAL DECISION AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF Application no. 34499/03 by Cengiz BAYIR against Turkey The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 4 September 2007 as a Chamber composed of: Mrs F. TULKENS, President, Mr I. CABRAL BARRETO, Mr R. TÜRMEN, Mr M. UGREKHELIDZE, Mr V. ZAGREBELSKY, Mrs A. MULARONI, Mr D. POPOVIĆ, judges, and Mrs F. ELENS-PASSOS, Deputy Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 July 2003, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicant, Mr Cengiz Bayır, is a Turkish national who was born in 1973 and lives in Istanbul. He is represented before the Court by Mr Metin Filorinali, a lawyer practising in Istanbul. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant and as they appear from the documents submitted by him, may be summarised as follows. The applicant was arrested in Istanbul on 4 April 1996 by police officers from the anti-terrorism branch of the Istanbul Police Headquarters, and was placed in custody.
2 BAYIR v. TURKEY DECISION On 15 April 1996 he was brought before the judge at the Istanbul State Security Court, who ordered his detention on remand pending the initiation of criminal proceedings against him. The prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court filed an indictment on 6 May 1996, charging the applicant with the offences of, inter alia, membership of an illegal organisation and of having thrown molotov cocktails. On 24 December 1997 the applicant was found guilty as charged and sentenced to a total of eighteen years’ imprisonment. The applicant’s conviction was quashed by the Court of Cassation on 14 December 1998. The Court of Cassation observed that the applicant had been suffering from epilepsy and held that, before convicting him, the trial court should have obtained medical reports with a view to establishing whether the applicant’s medical problems had had any bearing on the commission of the offences. If that was the case, the applicant could have benefited from Articles 46 or 47 of the Criminal Code, pursuant to which his prison sentence could have been reduced or no punishment imposed at all. In 1999 the re-trial commenced before the Istanbul State Security Court. According to a medical report obtained from a hospital in Istanbul, the applicant had had criminal capacity at the time of the commission of the offences in 1996. The applicant was released on 5 April 2002. After the State Security Courts were abolished, the 12th Chamber of the Istanbul Assize Court took over the trial. On 20 March 2006 the applicant was found guilty and sentenced to eight years and nine months’ imprisonment. The applicant appealed against his conviction and the proceedings before the Court of Cassation are currently pending. COMPLAINTS The applicant complained under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention of the l...