Özel and Others v. Turkey (37626/02)

Date	20080131
Article	6(1)
Decision	violation

Violations of Article 6 § 1 (length) and (fairness)

Özel and Others v. Turkey (no. 37626/02)

The applicants, Armagan Özel, Cem Çakar, Hakkı Köse and Abbas Mert, are Turkish nationals who were born in 1950, 1964, 1960 and 1963 respectively and live in Istanbul.

The first three applicants, who are doctors, were convicted by the Istanbul General Staff Court of issuing false certificates exempting conscripts from military service. Mr Mert was convicted of obtaining a false certificate exempting him from military service.

Relying on Article 6 (right to a fair hearing), they complained that the proceedings against them had been excessively long and unfair.

The Court found that the length of the proceedings in the applicants’ case was excessive and failed to satisfy the “reasonable time” requirement. It further considered that the applicants’ doubts as to the independence and impartiality of the General Staff Court were objectively justified. It therefore held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 and awarded EUR 4,800 to Mr Çakar and Mr Özel, EUR 6,000 to Mr Köse and EUR 3,000 to Mr Mert for non-pecuniary damage. (The judgment is available only in French.)