The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 22 September 2009 as a Chamber composed of: Françoise Tulkens, President, Ireneu Cabral Barreto, Vladimiro Zagrebelsky, Dragoljub Popović, Nona Tsotsoria, Işıl Karakaş, Kristina Pardalos, judges, and Françoise Elens-Passos, Deputy Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 16 February 2004, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicant, Mr Taylan Çoklar, is a Turkish national who was born in 1961 and lives in Tarsus. He is represented before the Court by Mr H. İlter, a lawyer practising in Ankara. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows. 2 ÇOKLAR v. TURKEY DECISION On 15 July 1981 the applicant was arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and forming an organisation to commit crimes. On 27 August...
SECOND SECTION PARTIAL DECISION AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF Application no. 8937/04 by Taylan ÇOKLAR against Turkey The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 22 September 2009 as a Chamber composed of: Françoise Tulkens, President, Ireneu Cabral Barreto, Vladimiro Zagrebelsky, Dragoljub Popović, Nona Tsotsoria, Işıl Karakaş, Kristina Pardalos, judges, and Françoise Elens-Passos, Deputy Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 16 February 2004, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicant, Mr Taylan Çoklar, is a Turkish national who was born in 1961 and lives in Tarsus. He is represented before the Court by Mr H. İlter, a lawyer practising in Ankara. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
2 ÇOKLAR v. TURKEY DECISION On 15 July 1981 the applicant was arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and forming an organisation to commit crimes. On 27 August 1981 the applicant was remanded in custody. On 22 May 1987 the Ankara Martial Law Court convicted the applicant. On 19 June 1991 the applicant was released pending his appeal. On 6 May 1992 the Military Court of Cassation quashed the judgment of the Ankara Martial Law Court. Following promulgation of the Law of 26 December 1994 abolishing the jurisdiction of the martial law courts, the Ankara Assize Court acquired jurisdiction over the case. On 30 May 2000 the Ankara Assize Court found the applicant guilty on various accounts of murder and armed robbery. On 25 October 2001 the applicant was taken into detention once again. On 18 February 2002 the Court of Cassation quashed the judgment of the Ankara Assize Court. On 16 January 2003 the applicant was released pending the retrial. On 26 June 2007 the Ankara Assize Court convicted the applicant and sentenced him to life imprisonment. On 17 April 2008 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of the Ankara Assize Court. COMPLAINTS Without relying on any Articles of the Convention, the applicant made the following complaints. The applicant firstly complained that he had been subjected to ill-treatment which had violated his right to life. He further contended that the length of his pre-trial detention had been excessive and that he had been denied compensation. The applicant maintained that the criminal proceedings against him had not been concluded within a reasonable time and that he had not been tried by an independent and impartial tribunal. The applicant alleged that a travel ban imposed on him during the course of the proceedings, together with the negative impacts of the trial on his employability and family life, had violated his right to the presumption of innocence.
ÇOKLAR v. TURKEY DECISION 3 THE LAW 1. The applicant maintained that the length of the criminal proceedings against him had exceeded the reasonable time requirement. The Court considers in the first place that this compl...