Erseven and Others v. Turkey (27225/02)

Date	20080124
Article	6(1)
Decision	violation

(Three applicants) Violation of Article 6 § 1 (fairness)

Erseven and Others v. Turkey (no. 27225/02)

The applicants, İlhami Erseven, Hikmet Yıldırım, Veli Ateş, İsmail Öztorun, Ellez Duman, İsmail Kaya, Kenan Atakul, Süleyman Çetinkaya and Bekir Arslan are all Turkish nationals who live in Turkey. They were born in 1954, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1960, 1956, 1959, 1964 and 1958 respectively.

All nine applicants were members of the Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural Association, a non-governmental organisation. Relying on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial), they complained that the criminal proceedings against them had been unfair, in particular that they had been denied a public hearing.

The Court held unanimously that Kenan Atakul, Hikmet Yıldırım and Ellez Duman had been prevented from exercising their defence rights properly and concluded that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 in respect of those applicants. It also held unanimously that the finding of a violation constituted in itself sufficient just satisfaction for any non-pecuniary damage sustained by them. They were awarded EUR 1,500, jointly, for costs and expenses. The Court declared the remainder of the application inadmissible in respect of the other six applicants. (The judgment is available only in English.)