The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 8 October 2013 as a Chamber composed of: Guido Raimondi, President, Danutė Jočienė, Peer Lorenzen, Dragoljub Popović, Işıl Karakaş, Nebojša Vučinić, Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, judges, and Stanley Naismith, Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 7 January 2011, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS 1. The applicants were born in 1965, 1966, 1997 and 1992 respectively and live in Adana, Turkey. They are the father, mother and brothers of Volkan Kamalak (“V.K”), who shot and killed himself with his infantry rifle on 4 September 2009 while performing his compulsory military service in Ağrı 12th Mechanised Infantry Brigade. They are represented by S. Kılıç, a lawyer practising in Ağrı. 2. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows. 3. On 4...
SECOND SECTION DECISION Application no. 2251/11 Hayri KAMALAK and others against Turkey The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 8 October 2013 as a Chamber composed of: Guido Raimondi, President, Danutė Jočienė, Peer Lorenzen, Dragoljub Popović, Işıl Karakaş, Nebojša Vučinić, Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, judges, and Stanley Naismith, Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 7 January 2011, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS 1. The applicants were born in 1965, 1966, 1997 and 1992 respectively and live in Adana, Turkey. They are the father, mother and brothers of Volkan Kamalak (“V.K”), who shot and killed himself with his infantry rifle on 4 September 2009 while performing his compulsory military service in Ağrı 12th Mechanised Infantry Brigade. They are represented by S. Kılıç, a lawyer practising in Ağrı. 2. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows. 3. On 4 September 2009 during the firing practice at around 10.20 a.m. V.K.’s rifle jammed. His friend Y.Z. helped remedy the problem; he removed the magazine and reinserted it. Then, V.K. suddenly stood up. Y.Z. tried to hold his foot, asking what he was doing. V.K. went a few meters
2 KAMALAK v. TURKEY DECISION down the shooting area, placed his G-3 infantry rifle under his chin, pointing at his head, and fired it. 4. He was immediately taken to the infirmary where he died. 5. At around 12.10 p.m. the military public prosecutor began the incident scene inspection. 6. On 5 September 2009 an autopsy was carried out by the Adana Forensic Medicine Institute. According to the post mortem examination report dated 15 April 2010, the gunshot wound by itself was lethal; it was a contact shot; the cause of death was skull fracture, qualified brain tissue damage and cerebral haemorrhage associated with gunshot wound. The toxicological examination revealed ethanol in the deceased’s blood. 7. At the request of the military public prosecutor, the Adana Forensic Medicine Institute issued an additional expert opinion and concluded that the ethanol found in the deceased’s blood amounting to 130 mg/dl had not been a factor in the incident of death. 8. The ballistic examination identified the spent bullet case fired from the rifle of the deceased among other spent bullet cases gathered from the incident scene, the shooting area. 9. Gunshot residue was detected in the swabs taken from the inner surfaces of both hands, from the dorsal surface of the left hand and from the face. 10. The military public prosecutor heard a number of witnesses and took note of the following witness statements. 11. According to the witness statement of one of the deceased’s closest friends, Y.Z., V.K complained about the military service all the time. V.K. was obsessed with the delay in referring him to the Ağrı Military Hospital for his herniated disc. On the day of the incident, V.K. had pai...