PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 21316/05) 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 Murat Biçer (“the applicant”), on 3 May 2005. The applicant was represented by Mr Ö. Yıldırım and Ms P. Yıldırım, lawyers practising in Kocaeli. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.

On 9 January 2009 the President of the Second Section decided to give notice of the application to the Government. It was also decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility (Article 29 § 3).

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant, a former military student, was born in 1981 and lives in Yalova.

On an unspecified date the applicant was expelled from the naval academy in accordance with the Law of Military Academies (Law no. 4466) for failing his class twice.

On 1 August 2001 he brought an action before the Supreme Military Administrative Court seeking the annulment of the expulsion order. Claiming that his exam in Mathematics 1 had not been graded correctly, he demanded the reassessment of his paper in the relevant subject.

On 10 July 2002 the Supreme Military Administrative Court refused the applicant's request. The court acknowledged that the reassessment of the applicant's paper by a group of three experts revealed that the paper had indeed been misgraded, yet even the modified grade did not entitle the applicant to pass his class.

Upon the applicant's request for rectification, on 5 March 2003 the Supreme Military Administrative Court annulled the expulsion order on account of procedural illegalities.

The applicant subsequently retook the exams he had previously failed, yet failed them once again, which led to the issue of a second expulsion order by the naval academy.

On 25 July 2003 the applicant brought another case before the Supreme Military Administrative Court for the annulment of the expulsion order. He again requested reassessment of his paper in Mathematics 1.

On an unspecified date an expert report was submitted to the Supreme Military Administrative Court which confirmed the accuracy of the grading of the applicant's exam paper.

On 29 September 2004 the Supreme Military Administrative Court held a hearing, where it dismissed the applicant's request for annulment of the expulsion order. The written opinion submitted by the principal public prosecutor to this court prior to the hearing was not communicated to the applicant.

On 12 January 2005 the Supreme Military Administrative Court rejected the applicant's rectification request.