Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 129
April 2010
Tehrani and Others v. Turkey - 32940/08
Judgment 13.4.2010 [Section II]
Article 37
Article 37-1
Striking out applications
Doubts about mental state of applicant who wished to withdraw his application to the European Court: request to withdraw application dismissed
Facts – The applicants are four Iranian nationals. They were involved with the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (“the PMOI”) and recognised as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They all left their country of origin and entered Turkey illegally. Two of the applicants are currently being held in the Foreigners’ Admission and Accommodation Centre in Turkey, and the other two are settled in Turkey on the basis of a temporary residence permit. They alleged that they would be at real risk of death or ill-treatment if deported to Iran. They also complained about the unlawfulness of their detention pending deportation and about the conditions of their detention pending deportation.
Law – Article 37 § 1: One of the applicants had informed the Court that he wished to withdraw his application and had asked to be deported to Iran. The Court took note of the discrepancy between the psychological-status report submitted by the applicant’s representative, which indicated that the applicant needed treatment, and the brief psychiatric report submitted by the Government, which stated that the applicant did not suffer from a psychotic illness but that further diagnosis could not be carried out due to his lack of cooperation. As a rule, and in particular in cases which primarily involved a risk to the applicant’s life or physical well-being, the ensuing existence of the applicant’s wish to pursue his application could not be the only criterion for putting the protection mechanism of the Convention into motion. The fact that it might no longer be possible to remedy a breach of Articles 2 or 3 of the Convention had to be taken into account when considering whether the examination of an application should be continued. Accepting the applicant’s wish to withdraw his application and striking the case out of its list would lift the protection afforded by the Court on a subject as important as the right to life and physical well-being of an individual. The Court attached particular importance to the doubt about the applicant’s mental state and to the discrepancies between the medical reports submitted by the parties.In these particular circumstances, respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto required a continuation of the examination of his application.
Conclusion: request to withdraw application dismissed (unanimously).
(See also Abdolkhani and Karimnia v. Turkey, no. 30471/08, 22 September 2009, Information Note no. 122)
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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