File 42 - Mehmet Haran

4 items

Supplementary materials pertaining to the case filed by Mehmet Haran on 11 November 1994 against the Republic of Turkey with the European Commission of Human Rights (application number 25754/94, referred to internally within the Kurdish Litigation Project as Case 163 and assigned to Bill Bowring as lead) regarding the killing of his son, Vahdettin Haran, in Lice on 12 May 1994. Materials open for access include the original application and appendices, and the draft replies to the observations of the Turkish Government (paper copy and 3/5-inch floppy disc copy). Materials closed for access until 1 November 2073 include the Commission's statement of facts on the application/request for observations on the application published 7 March 1995, and the Government's observations on the application received 18 August 1995. Materials from the main casefile are located at A44/43/1/34.
Mehmet Haran lived in the Çelebi hamlet of Arıklı, Lice District, Diyarbakır Province. In April 1994, security forces burned down the applicant's house, along with the other houses and forced the evacuation of the entire hamlet. The applicant then settled in Arıklı and his son Vahdettin Haran in Lice. On 12 May 1994, Vahdettin went to Arıklı in order to help Mehmet to prune grapes in his vineyard. The gendarmes and soldiers arrived at the village and convened all the villagers in the schoolyard. They then started to burn the houses. At about 11 a.m., as houses were still being burned, the applicant heard the sound of gunfire coming from his vineyard. In the evening, villagers who came from the direction of the vineyard said that the gendarmes had taken someone away with them and gone towards Lice. Mehmet feared that this might have been Vahdettin. On the morning of the following day, 13 May 1994, the applicant sent his other children to the vineyard, where the body of Vahdettin was found dead. Later on 13 May 1994, Mehmet went to Lice and reported the killing of his son to the Public Prosecutor. The Public Prosecutor told the applicant that he would not be able to come to the village as it would be too dangerous for him, but that an autopsy would be carried out if the body could be brought to Lice. Mehmet took Vahdettin’s body to Lice and an autopsy was conducted by the Public Prosecutor. The autopsy report indicated that the death was caused by shattering of internal organs by bullets. Mehmet Haran was not given any information or any document pertaining to the autopsy. On 6 June 1994, the Lice Public Prosecutor initiated a preliminary investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death. The Court was not informed of the outcome of the investigation.
On 9 October 2001, a friendly settlement was reached in which the Turkish Government paid Mehmet Haran £80,000 sterling in damages and declared that ‘It is accepted that the use of unjustified force resulting in death constitutes a violation of Article 2 of the Convention and the Government undertakes to issue appropriate instructions and adopt all necessary measures to ensure that the right to life – including the obligation to carry out effective investigations – is respected in the future.’ The full judgment is available for viewing at https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/?i=001-60330

Materials closed for access until 1 November 2073 include the Commission's statement of facts on the application/request for observations on the application published 7 March 1995, and the Government's observations on the application received 18 August 1995.

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