PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 27719/02) 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 a Turkish national, Mr Ali Erden (“the applicant”), on 10 April 2002.

The applicant was represented by Ms T. Aslan, 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 12 September 2006 the Court decided to give notice of the application to the Government. Applying Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time.

THE FACTS

THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1950 and lives in Antalya.

The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.

On 7 October 1999 the applicant was taken into custody for his suspected involvement in terrorist activities. On the same date the Magistrates' Court of Antalya ordered his detention pending trial.

At a hearing held on 25 November 1999, the State Security Court of Izmir ordered the applicant's release.

On 29 June 2000 he was acquitted of all charges.

On 10 August 2000 he applied to the Antalya Assize Court, seeking compensation pursuant to Law no. 466. That Law provides, inter alia, for an award of damages to any person who has been unlawfully deprived of his or her liberty, or who, after being lawfully detained, was not subsequently committed for trial or was acquitted after standing trial.

The applicant claimed a total of 6,050,000,000 Turkish Liras (TRL) in pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages, comprising lost wages as a construction worker, legal costs and fees and moral damages.

On 13 June 2002 the court handed down a judgment awarding the applicant an unspecified sum of money.

Upon separate appeals by the applicant as well as the Treasury, the Court of Cassation quashed that ruling on 12 May 2003 and remitted the file to the Antalya Assize Court for a more comprehensive examination.

The assize court resumed the proceedings by broadening the scope of its examination of the damage which the applicant had suffered. On 23 September 2003 the court gave a second judgment, which the Court of Cassation quashed on 18 October 2004. Once again the Court of Cassation directed the court to conduct a more thorough research into the applicant's entitlement to damages.

On 18 February 2005 the assize court handed down its third ruling, awarding the applicant 781 New Turkish liras.0 The parties appealed separately.

The applicant learned through his verbal contacts with the assize court's registry that on 6 February 2006 the Court of Cassation had upheld the latter judgment with certain rectifications.