İsmail Kaya v. Turkey (22929/04)

Date	20081021
Article	6(1)
Decision	violation

Violation of Article 6 § 1 (length)

İsmail Kaya v. Turkey (no. 22929/04)

The applicant, İsmail Kaya, is Turkish national who was born in 1956 and lives in Istanbul.

Mr Kaya was committed for trial on a charge of forgery in July 1993, being suspected of issuing false diplomas for pupils while he was the headmaster of a senior high school. A second prosecution for forgery was brought against him and the two cases were joined in June 1996. In November 2002 he was found guilty and sentenced to two years and 11 months’ imprisonment. An appeal by the applicant on points of law was dismissed in December 2003.

Relying on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial within a reasonable time), the applicant complained about the excessive length of the criminal proceedings against him.

The Court noted that the length of the proceedings – approximately ten years and five months – had been excessive and failed to satisfy the “reasonable time” requirement. It accordingly held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 and awarded the applicant EUR 6,000 for non-pecuniary damage. (The judgment is available only in French.)