Item 1 - Case of T.A. v. Turkey (Application no. 26307/95), Judgment (Striking Out)

19pp

Published decision of the European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Chamber, to strike out the application of Tahsin Acar lodged on behalf of his brother, Mehmet Salim Acar (this decision would later be referred to a Grand Chamber and overturned on 8 April 2004 as per https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-61698). Mehmet Salim Acar had disappeared on 20 August 1994, when he was abducted by two unidentified persons – allegedly plain-clothes police officers. Tahsin Acar complained of the unlawfulness and excessive length of his brother’s detention, of the ill-treatment and acts of torture to which his brother had allegedly been subjected while in detention, and of the failure to provide his brother with the necessary medical care in detention. Tahsin Acar further complained that his brother had been deprived of the services of a lawyer and of all contact with his family.
By a letter of 27 August 2001, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Turkey to the Council of Europe informed the Court as follows:
“... I have the pleasure to enclose herewith the text of a declaration which the Government would be willing to make unilaterally with a view to resolving the ... application. The Government kindly requests the Court to decide that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application and to strike the case out of the list under Article 37 of the Convention.” The relevant parts of the appended declaration read as follows: “I declare that the Government of the Republic of Turkey offer to pay ex gratia to the applicant, Mr Tahsin Acar, the amount of 70,000 pounds sterling [in respect of] the application registered under no. 26307/95. This sum, which covers any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs, shall be paid in pounds sterling, free of any taxes that may be applicable and to an account named by the applicant. The sum shall be payable within three months from the date of delivery of the judgment by the Court ... This payment will constitute the final resolution of the case.
The Government regret the occurrence of the actions which have led to the bringing of the present application, in particular the disappearance of the applicant’s brother Mr Mehmet Salim Acar and the anguish caused to his family. It is accepted that unrecorded deprivations of liberty and insufficient investigations into allegations of disappearance constitute violations of Articles 2, 5 and 13 of the Convention. The Government undertake to issue appropriate instructions and adopt all necessary measures with a view to ensuring that all deprivations of liberty are fully and accurately recorded by the authorities and that effective investigations into alleged disappearances are carried out in accordance with their obligations under the Convention.
The Government consider that the supervision by the Committee of Ministers of the execution of Court judgments concerning Turkey in this and similar cases is an appropriate mechanism for ensuring that improvements will be made in this context. To this end, necessary cooperation in this process will continue to take place. ...”
The Chamber accepted the unilateral declaration of the Government. The full judgment is available for viewing at https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-60418

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