Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 136
December 2010
Ülüfer v. Turkey (communicated case) - 23038/07
Article 2
Article 2-1
Life
Effective investigation
Fatal shooting of handcuffed prisoner by soldier during attempted escape: communicated
In April 2003 the applicant’s son, who was detained in a military prison for theft, was taken to a criminal court by public transport. He was accompanied by two soldiers and an officer. At the end of the hearing, while they were waiting at a bus stop to return to the prison, the prisoner, who was handcuffed, started to run. Although the soldiers chasing him issued verbal warnings and fired two shots in the air, he continued to run. One of the soldiers fired a shot that seriously wounded the prisoner. Three days later the applicant’s son died in hospital. The post-mortem report recorded that a bullet had entered through his back and exited by the stomach. In July 2003 the public prosecutor instituted criminal proceedings against the soldier for wilful homicide. He considered that the latter had exceeded his powers and that the article in the Criminal Code providing for immunity for persons acting under official orders was not applicable in this case. In October 2004 the assize court acquitted the soldier on the ground that he had acted within the scope of the above-mentioned article. In June 2006 the Court of Cassation upheld the first-instance judgment. The applicant brought an action for damages in the administrative court against the Ministry of the Interior. The court ruled against the applicant, finding that there was no causal link between the death of her son and any fault on the part of the authorities. All of the applicant’s appeals were unsuccessful.
Communicated under Article 2 (procedural and substantive heads) and Article 13.
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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