Hüseyin Turan v. Turkey (11529/02)

Date	20080304
Article	6(1)
Decision	violation

Violation of Article 6 § 1 (fairness)

Hüseyin Turan v. Turkey (no. 11529/02)

The applicant, Hüseyin Turan, is a Turkish national who was born in 1963 and lives in İzmir (Turkey).

The case concerned an application for judicial review of an administrative fine imposed on the applicant for employing a person without declaring the employment to the social-security authorities. The applicant complained, in particular, that the proceedings had been unfair in that the criminal court dealing with the case had not held a hearing. He relied on Articles 6 (right to a fair hearing) and 13 (right to an effective remedy).

The Court considered that Article 6 was applicable as there had been a “criminal charge” against the applicant. It held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 as the applicant had not been afforded the opportunity to request a hearing and the proceedings had been conducted at a single level of jurisdiction, before a court whose decision was not subject to appeal. The Court considered that there was a no need for a separate examination of the complaint under Article 13 and that the finding of a violation constituted in itself sufficient just satisfaction for the non-pecuniary damage sustained by the applicant. (The judgment is available only in French.)