Lexploria

Information Note on the Court’s case-law 63

April 2004

Ahmet Özkan and Others v. Turkey - 21689/93

Judgment 6.4.2004 [Section II]

Article 2

Article 2-1

Life

Inhuman and degrading treatment of villagers by security forces, and deaths related thereto: violation

Facts : The applicants claimed that in February 1993 security forces had attacked their village, as a result of which two children had died. They maintain ed that on the same day the security forces had set fire to their houses and had taken most of the male villagers into detention. After assembling the villagers in the village square, the security forces had obliged adult male villagers to lie face down on the ground, in a mixture of mud and slush, in view of their families. These boys and men had occasionally been beaten, kicked and trampled on by the soldiers guarding them. A number of the men had then been made to walk for two to three hours barefoot thr ough the snow and slush from the village to the gendarme station, and had been subjected to ill-treatment during detention, resulting in serious injuries of some villagers and the death of one. The applicants further alleged that the security forces had re turned to their village later that year, when they had burned other houses and destroyed harvested crops, and that they had returned once again in the spring of 1994 when they had killed four villagers and forced the villagers to leave. The Government disp uted this version of events and claimed that when the security forces had approached the village to carry out a search in the valley they had come under fire and had responded in self-defence. In the course of the ensuing clash, the roofs of some houses in the village had caught fire, and nobody, besides a gendarme, had been injured or killed during the events. The facts being disputed by the parties, a delegation of the former European Commission of Human Rights took evidence.

Law : Article 2 (use of force by security forces) – Bearing in mind that at the time of the events there were serious disturbances in south-east Turkey involving armed conflict between the security forces and members of the PKK, the security forces’ tactical reaction to the initial sho ts fired at them from the village had not represented a disproportionate degree of force, and had been “absolutely necessary” for the purpose of protecting life.

Conclusion : no violation (unanimously).

Article 2 (deaths of villagers) – In relation to the daughter of one of the applicants, it remained unsubstantiated that she had died as a consequence of the failure of the security forces to secure appropriate medical treatment. However, the callous disregard displayed by the security forces as to the possi ble presence of civilian casualties after the exchange of fire amounted to a breach of the authorities’ obligation to protect life under Article 2. As regards the villager who had died of pneumonia whilst in custody, it had been established beyond reasonab le doubt that in all likelihood he had contracted this illness as a result of having been made to walk barefoot through the snow, as well as by the conditions of his subsequent detention. The authorities were therefore regarded as liable for the cause of h is death. In both cases, the Court found that the public prosecutors involved had failed to conduct effective investigations into the circumstances surrounding theses deaths, amounting to violations of Article 2 under its procedural limb.

Conclusion : viol ation (unanimously)

Article 3 (treatment of villagers in the village square) – In the absence of any resistance from the villagers, the treatment of the men in the square was unjustified and surpassed the usual degree of intimidation and humiliation inherent in every arrest o r detention. In consequence, there had been a breach of Article 3 of the Convention.