Satık v. Turkey (No. 2) (60999/00)

Date	20080708
Article	6(1)
Decision	violation

No violation of Article 3

Violation of Article 6 § 1 (fairness)

Satık v. Turkey (No. 2) (no. 60999/00)

The applicant, Kadir Satık, is a Turkish national who was born in 1966 and lives in Ankara.

The case concerned Mr Satık’s allegation that he was ill-treated in police custody when arrested on suspicion of giving official and confidential information to the Greek intelligence service. Ultimately, the General Staff Military Court convicted him of espionage and sentenced him to 12 years and six months’ imprisonment. He further complained that, tried by a military court, the proceedings against him were not independent and impartial. He relied on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial).

The Court noted that the applicant had failed, either before the military court or in his application form to this Court, to specify exactly how he had been ill-treated. It therefore held unanimously that there had been no violation of Article 3. However, it held, by six votes to one, that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 on account of the lack of independence and impartiality of the military court which had tried and convicted the applicant. Accordingly, the Court awarded Mr Satık, by six votes to one, EUR 1,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and EUR 3,000 for costs and expenses. (The judgment is available only in English.)