Sub-sub-series 6 - Eshat Aktaş

3 files

Materials pertaining to the case filed by Eshat Aktaş against the Republic of Turkey with the European Commission of Human Rights (application number 24357/94, referred to internally within the Kurdish Litigation Project as Case 29 and assigned to Bill Bowring as lead). The applicant's brother, Yakup Aktaş (1964-1990), died on 25 November 1990 after being arrested on 18 November 1990 by the Derik district gendarmerie. The injuries to Yakup Aktaş described were consistent with death by deliberate asphyxiation. Two gendarmerie intelligence officers, Major Aytekin Özen and Master Sergeant Ercan Günay, were charged with beating Yakup Aktaş to death, but after a number of transfers of the case between various domestic courts, the officers were ultimately acquitted on 11 May 1994, after which the applicant's appeal was denied by the Court of Cassation. On 24 April 2003, the European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously that there had been violations of Articles 2, 3, and 38 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and eight votes to one that there had been violations of Article 13, and awarded Yakup Aktaş's widow and daughter €226,065 in pecuniary damages, €58,000 in non-pecuniary damages, and awarded Eshat Aktaş €29,275 in costs and expenses. A full copy of the judgment is available for viewing at https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/?i=001-61055.
Bill Bowring's document file pertaining to the 17-21 November 1997 hearing in the case in Ankara is found at A44/43/65.
Kevin Boyle and Françoise Hampson were the original legal representatives before the Court in this case. On 10 March 2000, they stood down in favour of Bill Bowring and Philip Leach of the Kurdish Human Rights Project.