The ineffectiveness of investigations into the murder of a citizen by the army violates the right to life
JUDGMENT
Ιncin v. Turkey 09.01.2018 (no. 3534/06)
SUMMARY
Investigation regarding the murder of Kurdish by the Turkish army. The applicants, referring to Article 2 (right to life), claimed that the investigation and trial lasted a great time and was ineffective despite the existence of many evidence. Infringement of Article 2 owing to the failure to conduct effective investigation and trial.
PROVISION
Article 2
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicants are a family of 15 Turkish nationals who were born between 1926 and 1994. Seven of them live in the Mahmur Refugee Camp in Iraq, and five live in Turkey. The case concerned the investigation into the killing of their relative, Kerim İncin, allegedly by the military.
Following severe military clashes the family fled Turkey in 1994 to live with relatives in Iraq.
Hazım İncin, Kerim İncin’s son, returned to his village in Turkey in March 2005 and lodged a complaint with the prosecutor concerning the killing of his father, which he had learned about from his fellow villagers. The prosecutor immediately started an investigation. He managed to locate and question a very large number of witnesses and military personnel who had since moved to various parts of the country. It emerged from the witness statements that Kerim İncin, who had returned to his village in Turkey in 1995, had been taken away by soldiers, shot and buried.
Between 2006 and 2009 the prosecutor, having learned that the body was buried in the village cemetery, repeatedly asked the military if he could exhume the body. He was, however, told that it would not be safe, on account of military operations in the area and adverse weather conditions.
Eventually, in 2010 the commander of the military station based in the vicinity was brought to trial on murder charges. He was acquitted in 2014 and the applicants appealed. The appeal proceedings are still pending before the Court of Cassation.
Relying on Article 2 (right to life), the applicants alleged that the investigation and trial concerning the killing of their relative had been half-hearted and very slow, despite the authorities being in possession of an abundance of evidence.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
Violation of Article 2 (investigation) – on account of the failure to conduct an effective investigation and trial after 2005
Just satisfaction: EUR 16,800 jointly to Habibe İncin, Veysi İncin, Saniye İncin, Fevzi İncin, Faruk İncin, Hazım İncin, and Hatice İncin, and EUR 3,200 jointly to Halima İncin, Hedice İncin, Sabriye İncin, Delila İncin, Doğila İncin, Reşit İncin, Nuri İncin, and Abdullah İncin, in respect of non-pecuniary damage (echrcaselaw.com editing).
