Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 95
March 2007
Yakışan v. Turkey - 11339/03
Judgment 6.3.2007 [Section II]
Article 46
Article 46-2
Execution of judgment
Continued detention pending the outcome of criminal proceedings that have been under way for almost thirteen years: violation to cease either by an early end to the trial or the applicant’s release
Facts: The applicant was arrested and remanded in custody in March 1994, on suspicion of being a member of the PKK (Workers’ Party of Kurdistan) and of being involved in certain acts of violence.
In June 1998 he was sentenced to the death penalty, which was commuted to life imprisonment. The judgment was quashed by the Court of Cassation. In October 2000 the Security Court gave the same sentence, which was also commuted. The following year that judgment was quashed by the Court of Cassation. The case was still pending before the Assize Court when the European Court of Human Rights delivered this judgment. The applicant was still being held in detention on remand, his applications for release having been dismissed.
Law: Article 5(3) – The holding of the applicant in detention on remand for a period of eleven years and seven months (the period to be examined under Article 5(3), which did not include the periods between each conviction and the quashing of the respective judgment by the Court of Cassation) had not been justified.
Conclusion: violation (unanimously).
Article 6(1) – The length of the criminal proceedings against the applicant, still pending after thirteen years, was excessive.
Conclusion: violation (unanimously).
Article 41 – EUR 12,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage.
The Court considered that an appropriate way of putting an end to the violation observed would be to try the applicant as quickly as possible, taking into account the requirements of the proper administration of justice, or to release him pending trial as provided for by Article 5(3).
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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