Press release issued by the Registrar
Forthcoming Grand Chamber Jugment - Öcalan v. Turkey
2 May 2005
The European Court of Human Rights will be holding a public hearing
in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on Thursday 12 May 2005
at 9.30 a.m. (local time) to deliver a Grand Chamber judgment in
the case of Öcalan v. Turkey (application no. 46221/99).
The press release and the text of the judgment will be available
after the hearing on the Courts Internet site (http://www.echr.coe.int).
Summary of the facts
The case concerns an application brought by a Turkish national,
Abdullah Öcalan, who was born in 1949. He is the former leader
of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and is currently incarcerated
in Imrali Prison (Bursa, Turkey).
At the time of the events in question, the Turkish courts had issued
seven warrants for Mr Öcalans arrest and a wanted notice
(red notice) had been circulated by Interpol. He was accused of
founding an armed gang in order to destroy the integrity of the
Turkish State and of instigating terrorist acts resulting in loss
of life.
On 9 October 1998 he was expelled from Syria, where he had been
living for many years. From there he went to Greece, Russia, Italy
and then again Russia and Greece before going to Kenya, where, on
the evening of 15 February 1999, in disputed circumstances, he was
taken on board an aircraft at Nairobi airport and arrested by Turkish
officials. He was then flown to Turkey, being kept blindfolded for
most of the flight.
On arrival in Turkey, a hood was placed over his head while he
was taken to Imrali Prison, where he was held in police custody
from 16 to 23 February 1999 and questioned by the security forces.
He received no legal assistance during that period and made several
self-incriminating statements which contributed to his conviction.
His lawyer in Turkey was prevented from travelling to visit him
by members of the security forces. 16 other lawyers were also refused
permission to visit on 23 February 1999.
On 23 February 1999 the applicant appeared before an Ankara State
Security Court judge, who ordered him to be placed in pre-trial
detention.
The first visit from his lawyers was restricted to 20 minutes and
took place with members of the security forces and a judge present
in the same room. Subsequent meetings between the applicant and
his lawyers took place within the hearing of members of the security
forces. After the first two visits from his lawyers, the applicants
contact with them was restricted to two one-hour visits a week.
The prison authorities did not authorise the applicants lawyers
to provide him with a copy of the documents in the case file, other
than the indictment. It was not until the hearing on 2 June 1999
that the State Security Court gave the applicant permission to consult
the case file under the supervision of two registrars and his lawyers
permission to provide him with a copy of certain documents.
On 29 June 1999 Ankara State Security Court found the applicant
guilty of carrying out actions calculated to bring about the separation
of a part of Turkish territory and of forming and leading an armed
gang to achieve that end. It sentenced him to death, under Article
125 of the Criminal Code. That decision was upheld by the Court
of Cassation.
Under Law no. 4771, published on 9 August 2002, the Turkish Assembly
resolved to abolish the death penalty in peacetime. On 3 October
2002 Ankara State Security Court commuted the applicants death
sentence to life imprisonment.
An application to set aside the provision abolishing the death
penalty in peacetime for persons convicted of terrorist offences
was dismissed by the Constitutional Court on 27 December 2002.
Complaints
The applicant complains that the imposition and/or implementation
of the death penalty was or would be in violation of Articles 2
(right to life), 3 (prohibition of ill-treatment) and 14 (prohibition
of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights; and
that the conditions in which he was transferred from Kenya to Turkey
and detained on the island of Imrali amounted to inhuman treatment
in breach of Article 3. He also complains that he was not brought
promptly before a judge and did not have access to proceedings to
challenge the lawfulness of his detention, in breach of Article
5 §§ 1, 3 and 4 (right to liberty and security). Under
Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial) he complains that he
was denied a fair trial, in that he was not tried by an independent
and impartial tribunal, as one of the judges of the State Security
Court was a military judge, the judges were influenced by hostile
media reports and his lawyers were not given sufficient access to
the court file to enable them to prepare his defence properly. He
also complains, under Article 34 (right of individual application),
that his legal representatives in Amsterdam were prevented from
contacting him after his arrest and/or that the Turkish Government
failed to reply to a request by the European Court of Human Rights
for information.
The applicant further relies on Articles 7 (no punishment without
law), 8 (right to respect for family life), 9 (freedom of religion),
10 (freedom of expression), 13 (right to an effective remedy), 14
(prohibition of discrimination) and 18 (limitation on use of restrictions
on rights) of the Convention.
Procedure
The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights
on 16 February 1999. A Chamber hearing was held on 21 November 2000
and the case was declared partly admissible on 14 December 2000.
In its Chamber judgment of 12 March 2003, the Court held that there
had been a violation of Article 5 §§ 3 and 4, Article
6 §§ 1 and 3 (b) and (c), and also of Article 3 on account
of the fact that the death penalty had been imposed after an unfair
trial.
The case was referred to the Grand Chamber[1] at the request of
the applicant and the Government. A Grand Chamber hearing was held
on 9 June 2004.
***
Registry of the European Court of Human Rights
F 67075 Strasbourg Cedex
Press contacts:
Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)
Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)
Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54)
Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91
***
The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by
the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged
violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. Since
1 November 1998 it has sat as a full-time Court composed of an equal
number of judges to that of the States party to the Convention.
The Court examines the admissibility and merits of applications
submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in exceptional
cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of Ministers
of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Courts
judgments.
***
[1] Under Article 43 of the European Convention on Human Rights,
within three months from the date of a Chamber judgment, any party
to the case may, in exceptional cases, request that the case be
referred to the 17 member Grand Chamber of the Court. In that event,
a panel of five judges considers whether the case raises a serious
question affecting the interpretation or application of the Convention
or its protocols, or a serious issue of general importance, in which
case the Grand Chamber will deliver a final judgment. If no such
question or issue arises, the panel will reject the request, at
which point the judgment becomes final. Otherwise Chamber judgments
become final on the expiry of the three-month period or earlier
if the parties declare that they do not intend to make a request
to refer.
|