Köksal Özdemir v. Turkey (21007/04)

The applicant, Köksal Özdemir, is a Turkish national who was born in 1976 and lives in Giresun (Turkey).

Mr Özdemir was arrested on suspicion of stealing a car and was taken into police custody on 26 March 2002. During his arrest he tried to escape and fell on the pavement. The public prosecutor’s office ordered the applicant’s release on 27 March 2002 at 1.25 a.m., but he was not released from the police station until 1.30 p.m. the following day. Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment), the applicant alleged that he had been ill-treated while in police custody. He also complained under Article 5 § 1 (c) (right to liberty and security) that his continued detention in police custody after his release had been ordered by the public prosecutor’s office had been unlawful.

The Court considered that the evidence submitted to it suggested that the injuries observed on Mr Özdemir’s body could have been the result of his fall while trying to escape arrest, and that it was not therefore capable of establishing the existence of the alleged ill-treatment. Accordingly, this part of the application was declared inadmissible.

As to the applicant’s complaint that his continued detention in police custody had been unlawful, the Court noted that the maximum period of police custody laid down by law was 24 hours, unless an extension was granted by the competent authority. That had not been the case here. The Court therefore held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 5 § 1 (c) and ruled that the present judgment constituted in itself sufficient just satisfaction for any non-pecuniary damage sustained by the applicant. (The judgment is available only in French.)

Date	20081118
Article	5(1), 3
Decision	violation