PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 18308/02) against the Republic of Turkey lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by two Turkish nationals, Mr Hasan Dikici and Mrs Satike Dikici (“the applicants”), on 1 February 2002.

The applicants, who had been granted legal aid, were represented by Ms A. Bozdoğan, a lawyer practising in İzmir. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.

On 10 May 2007 the President of the Second Section decided to give notice of the application to the Government. It was also decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time (Article 29 § 3).

THE FACTS

The applicants were born in 1949 and 1955 respectively and live in İzmir.

On 3 July 1995 the applicants' son, Ercan Dikici, who was an electrician, had an occupational accident and died from an electric shock.

The same day, the Aliağa Public Prosecutor started an investigation into the incident. Subsequently, on 17 August 1995 he initiated criminal proceedings in the Aliağa Criminal Court against three persons, including the employer of Ercan Dikici and another employee who had been working with him on the day of the accident. They were charged with involuntary manslaughter under Article 455 of the Criminal Code. On 4 July 1996 the Aliağa Criminal Court acquitted the accused persons of the charges against them. On 12 May 1997 the Court of Cassation quashed the judgment of the Aliağa Criminal Court.

On 17 December 1998 the Aliağa Criminal Court found the employer of Ercan Dikici and the other employee who had been working with him guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced them to six months' imprisonment. Their sentence was converted into a fine. On 16 February 2000 the Court of Cassation upheld this judgment.

While the criminal proceedings were pending, on 20 November 1995 the applicants initiated compensation proceedings in the İzmir Labour Court against the employer of their son. They requested 50,000,000 Turkish liras (TRL) in respect of pecuniary damage and TRL 1,500,000,000 (approximately 28,000 US Dollars (USD)) in respect of non-pecuniary damage.

On an unspecified date, the İzmir Labour Court adjourned the proceedings pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings.

When the criminal proceedings ended, the trial before the İzmir Labour Court resumed. The court ordered further expert reports and heard evidence from witnesses. Subsequently, on 24 May 2001 the court decided to award TRL 600,000,000 to the applicants in respect of non-pecuniary damage with statutory interest running from 3 July 1995. It further found that the applicants had not been in any way financially dependent on their deceased son and therefore rejected their claim for compensation for pecuniary damage.

On 5 July 2001 the Court of Cassation decided that the amount of compensation for non-pecuniary damage should be increased to TRL 1,000,000,000 (approximately USD 790) with statutory interest running from 3 July 19950. Holding that there was no other reason to quash the judgment of the İzmir Labour Court, it rejected the remainder of the applicants' appeal requests. This decision was served on the applicants on 22 August 2001. The same day, the defendant party paid TRL 2,677,533,000 to the applicants (approximately USD 1,850).