Ütebay v. Turkey (40555/04)

Date	20080717
Article	5(3), 6(1)
Decision	violation

Violation of Article 5 § 3

Violation of Article 6 § 1 (length)

Ütebay v. Turkey (no. 40555/04)

The applicant, Ekrem Ütebay, was a Turkish national who was born in 1973 and lived in Istanbul. He died on 14 June 2005.

In March 1994 Mr Ütebay was taken into police custody on suspicion of being a member of the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party). He was ultimately released in April 2004 pending trial. The proceedings were still pending before the domestic courts when the applicant died.

The case concerned the applicant’s complaint about the excessive length of his detention pending trial and of the proceedings against him. He relied on Article 5 § 3 (right to liberty and security) and Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial within a reasonable time).

The Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 5 § 3 on account of the length of Mr Ütebay’s detention pending trial which lasted nearly ten years and one month, and a further violation of Article 6 § 1 on account of the length of the criminal proceedings against him which were still pending at the time of his death and had already lasted 11 years for one level of jurisdiction. The Court awarded Mr Ütebay’s parents and brother EUR 14,000, jointly, in respect of non-pecuniary damage. (The judgment is available only in English.)