PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 70317/01) 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 a Turkish national, Mr Bektaş Canseven (“the applicant”), on 9 May 2000.

The applicant was represented by Mr S. Şahin, a lawyer practising in Izmir. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) did not designate an Agent for the purposes of the proceedings before the Court.

On 1 September 2005 the Court declared the application partly inadmissible and decided to communicate to the Government the complaint concerning the alleged ill-treatment of the applicant during police custody and his right to a fair hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal. Under the provisions of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1975 and was serving his prison sentence in Gebze prison at the time of his application to the Court.

The applicant was arrested and taken into police custody on 26 December 1993 on suspicion of membership in an illegal organisation, namely the DEV-SOL (Revolutionary Left).

The applicant claims that he was subjected to ill-treatment while in police custody. In particular, he claims to have been beaten, given electric shocks, deprived of food and water, immersed in cold water and subjected to falaka (beating of the soles of the feet).

On 7 January 1994 the applicant, together with twelve other suspects, was taken to the Istanbul Forensic Institute for a medical examination. The doctor noted that there were no physical signs of ill-treatment on the applicant's body.

On the same day the applicant was brought before the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court where he denied the statements he gave to the police and alleged that he had been subjected to torture whilst in custody. Later that day the applicant was brought before a judge who ordered his remand in custody.

The public prosecutor, in view of the complaints of ill-treatment of the applicant and other suspects arrested in the course of an investigation into DEV-SOL, forwarded the case file to the Istanbul public prosecutor's office. The latter, after having instigated an investigation into the complaints, issued a decision of non-prosecution against two police officers for lack of evidence on 10 May 1994.

On an unspecified date the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court filed a bill of indictment against the applicant accusing him of membership in an illegal organisation and committing arson under Articles 168 § 2 and 369 of the Criminal Code.

The proceedings against the applicant were subsequently joined with the criminal proceedings against nineteen other persons who had been charged with membership of the same organisation.

On 8 April 1997 the Istanbul State Security Court convicted the applicant of membership in an illegal organisation and of throwing Molotov cocktails at various banks. This judgment was quashed by the Court of Cassation on 21 May 1998.

In the course of the proceedings the applicant repeated several times that he had been ill-treated whilst in custody.

On 24 December 1998 the Istanbul State Security Court convicted the applicant of membership in an illegal organisation and of throwing Molotov cocktails at various banks in 1991. The applicant was sentenced to a total of twenty-one years, one month and fourteen days' imprisonment and to a fine.

On 18 January 1999 the applicant appealed. He maintained in his petition, inter alia, that the first-instance court had based its judgment on his statements which had been given to the police under duress.

On 30 September 1999 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment. This decision was deposited with the registry of the first-instance court.

On 10 April 2003 the execution of the applicant's sentence was suspended for six months on health grounds. The applicant was released. On 27 December 2005 the Izmir Assize Court suspended the execution of the applicant's sentence in light of the provisions of the new Criminal Code.