Lexploria

Communicated on 6 July 2020 Published on 27 July 2020

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 45942/11 Hatice UÇKUN and Others against Turkey lodged on 28 June 2011

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The applicants, who are of Roma origin, complained that on the night of 5 January 2010, they had been victims of a mob attack that was organised by the residents of the Selendi District, demanding that the Roma be expelled from the district. According to the applicants, the local authorities failed to protect the Roma residents from the attack, in the course of which damage had been caused to their cars, belongings and houses. The applicants further maintained that because of this hostile attack, they had been forced to move to another district.

Following the incident, three different sets of proceedings were initiated. In so far as the complaint lodged against the District Mayor and the Deputy Security Director, on 6 January 2011 a non-prosecution decision was delivered by the Public Prosecutor and this decision was upheld by the Ala ş ehir Assize Court on 7 April 2011. As regards the criminal proceedings initiated against the perpetrators of the mob attack, on 23 December 2015 the Uşak Assize Court found thirty eight of the accused persons guilty as charged and convicted them for incitement to hatred and causing damage to property. The appeal proceedings are still pending before the Court of Cassation. Finally, twenty out of the seventy-five applicants initiated compensation proceedings before the Manisa Administrative Court alleging that as a result of the negligence of the domestic authorities, they had suffered both pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage. On 7 March 2014 the domestic court found it established that there had been a fault that could be attributed to the domestic authorities and stated that the district governor and the deputy security officer had been late in their intervention and had failed to act effectively in dispersing the crowd and prevent the damage that had been caused to the Roma origin citizens ’ cars, houses and their belongings. The court therefore decided that the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage suffered by the twenty applicants be compensated by the domestic authorities. The plaintiffs were accordingly each awarded 10,000 Turkish Liras (TRY) (approximately 3,300 euros (“EUR”)) in respect of compensation. Following appeal, the Manisa Regional Administrative Court upheld the decision of the Manisa Administrative Court. No individual application was filed with the Constitutional Court against the decision of the Manisa Regional Administrative Court.

The applicants solely complained about the non-prosecution decision delivered against the Selendi District Mayor and Deputy Security Director and maintained that the authorities had failed to provide protection from the attack, and the investigation had been ineffective. They also alleged that the failure of the domestic authorities to conduct an effective investigation amounted to discrimination due to their Roma origin. In respect of their complaints, the applicants relied on Articles 2, 3, 6, 8, 13 and 14 of the Convention.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Have the applicants exhausted all effective domestic remedies, as required by Article 35 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, bearing in mind that the domestic authorities had refused to initiate criminal proceedings against the Government officials, can the decision delivered by the Manisa Administrative Court on 7 March 2014, be considered as an effective remedy in the circumstances of the present case?

2. Did the treatment to which the applicants were subjected, reach the threshold of Article 3 of the Convention? If so, have the authorities failed to protect the Roma residents from an attack on their homes by a mob motivated by anti-Roma sentiment, by taking all reasonable steps to expeditiously prevent the attack against the applicants?

3. Having regard to the procedural protection from ill-treatment, even when inflicted between private persons (see Beganović v. Croatia , no. 46423/06, § 71, 25 June 2009) , was the investigation in the present case adequate for the purposes of Article 3 of the Convention? Furthermore, recalling that when investigating violent incidents, State authorities have an additional duty under Article 3 of the Convention to take all reasonable steps to unmask any racist motive and to establish whether or not ethnic hatred or prejudice may have also played a role in the events, and that a similar obligation might also arise in cases where the treatment constituted an interference with Article 8 of the Convention, could the authorities in the circumstances of the present case, be considered to have conducted an effective investigation (see Burlya and Others v. Ukraine , no. 3289/10 , §§ 169-170, 6 November 2018; Király and Dömötör v. Hungary , no. 10851/13, § 61, 17 January 2017 and R.B. v. Hungary , no. 64602/12, § 84, 12 April 2016 ) ?

4. Did the damage caused to the applicants ’ houses and belongings constitute a grave and unjustified interference with the applicants ’ right to respect for their private and family life an d home, as protected by Article 8 of the Convention?

5. Having in particular regard to the relevant part (paragraphs 53-56) of the fifth report on Turkey by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), adopted on 29 June 2016, have the applicants suffered discrimination on the ground of their ethnic origin, contrary to Article 14 of the Convention, read in conjunction with Articles 3 and/or 8 of the Convention? In particular, did the authorities take into consideration the racist motive of the attack when conducting the domestic investigation?

List of applicants

No.

Applicant ’ s Name

Birth year

Nationality

Place of residence

1Hatice UÇKUN

1948Turkish

MANÄ°SA

2Dilek BAYIR

1992Turkish

MANÄ°SA

3Hakkı ÇELİK

1980Turkish

MANÄ°SA

4Cansel ÇELİK

1984Turkish

MANÄ°SA

5Mustafa ÇELİK

1999Turkish

MANÄ°SA

6Yağmur ÇELİK

2002Turkish

MANÄ°SA

7Dilay ÇETİN

1984Turkish

MANÄ°SA

8Erdal ÇETİN

1976Turkish

MANÄ°SA

9Gökhan ÇETİN

2000Turkish

MANÄ°SA

10Naim ÇETİN

2003Turkish

MANÄ°SA

11Fadime DEMÄ°RCÄ°

1941Turkish

MANÄ°SA

12Ali Rıza GÜVEN

1964Turkish

MANÄ°SA

13Nuran GÃœVEN

1974Turkish

MANÄ°SA

14OÄŸuz GÃœVEN

2002Turkish

MANÄ°SA

15Yücel GÜVEN

2002Turkish

MANÄ°SA

16Ali KOCA

2001Turkish

MANÄ°SA

17Arda KOCA

2009Turkish

MANÄ°SA

18Asi KOCA

2008Turkish

MANÄ°SA

19Berivan KOCA

2003Turkish

MANÄ°SA

20Cemal KOCA

1976Turkish

MANÄ°SA

21Cemile KOCA

1984Turkish

MANÄ°SA

22Ercan KOCA

1979Turkish

MANÄ°SA

23Gaye KOCA

2002Turkish

MANÄ°SA

24Hakan KOCA

2004Turkish

MANÄ°SA

25Hüseyin KOCA

1984Turkish

MANÄ°SA

26Mehmet KOCA

1974Turkish

MANÄ°SA

27Nevin KOCA

2003Turkish

MANÄ°SA

28Nevrigül KOCA

1955Turkish

MANÄ°SA

29Nevrigül KOCA

2001Turkish

MANÄ°SA

30Nurcan KOCA

1979Turkish

MANÄ°SA

31Süleyman KOCA

1954Turkish

MANÄ°SA

32Sultan KOCA

1983Turkish

MANÄ°SA

33Sümbül KOCA

1987Turkish

MANÄ°SA

34Tayfur KOCA

2000Turkish

MANÄ°SA

35Tuncay KOCA

1976Turkish

MANÄ°SA

36YaÅŸar KOCA

1974Turkish

MANÄ°SA

37Abdurrahman Namık ÖZER

2007Turkish

MANÄ°SA

38Alper ÖZER

2003Turkish

MANÄ°SA

39Aşkın ÖZER

1983Turkish

MANÄ°SA

40Bülent ÖZER

1980Turkish

MANÄ°SA

41Dilek ÖZER

1981Turkish

MANÄ°SA

42Gamze ÖZER

1997Turkish

MANÄ°SA

43Gülizar ÖZER

1956Turkish

MANÄ°SA

44Muhammet ÖZER

2006Turkish

MANÄ°SA

45Polat ÖZER

2006Turkish

MANÄ°SA

46Selma ÖZER

1983Turkish

MANÄ°SA

47Seyfettin ÖZER

1999Turkish

MANÄ°SA

48Barış SEPETÇİ

1991Turkish

MANÄ°SA

49Gülhanım SEPETÇİ

1959Turkish

MANÄ°SA

50Gülhanım SEPETÇİ

2009Turkish

MANÄ°SA

51Hediye SEPETÇİ

1988Turkish

MANÄ°SA

52Hüseyin SEPETÇİ

1970Turkish

MANÄ°SA

53Yaşar SEPETÇİ

1983Turkish

MANÄ°SA

54Seyfettin SEPETÇİ

1959Turkish

MANÄ°SA

55Seyfettin SEPETÇİ

2008Turkish

MANÄ°SA

56Serpil TURHAN

1975Turkish

MANÄ°SA

57Caner UÇKUN

2006Turkish

ANTALYA

58Ahmet UÇKUN

1961Turkish

MANÄ°SA

59Ayşe UÇKUN

1985Turkish

ANTALYA

60Birgül UÇKU N

1974Turkish

MANÄ°SA

61Burhan UÇKUN

1977Turkish

MANÄ°SA

62Erdal UÇKUN

1971Turkish

MANÄ°SA

63Gizem UÇKUN

2009Turkish

ANTALYA

64Gökhan UÇKUN

1996Turkish

MANÄ°SA

65Gonca UÇKUN

1993Turkish

MANÄ°SA

66Hamza UÇKUN

2004Turkish

ANTALYA

67Memati UÇKUN

2005Turkish

MANÄ°SA

68Nurten UÇKUN

1980Turkish

MANÄ°SA

69Özkan UÇKUN

2002Turkish

MANÄ°SA

70Pınar UÇKUN

2006Turkish

MANÄ°SA

71Sedat UÇKUN

2009Turkish

MANÄ°SA

72Selcan UÇKUN

1991Turkish

MANÄ°SA

73Sevittin UÇKUN

1960Turkish

MANÄ°SA

74Sibel UÇKUN

1994Turkish

MANÄ°SA

75Yılmaz UÇKUN

1975Turkish

ANTALYA

Menu

UÇKUN AND OTHERS v. TURKEY

UÇKUN AND OTHERS v. TURKEY

LEXI