Death of two young children in the sea. Insufficient research. Violation of the right to life.
JUDGMENT
Hakim Aka v. Turkey 6.11.2018 (no. 62077/08)
SUMMARY
Death of two young children and inadequate investigation of their death. Two children were found dead in the sea with stones in their pockets. One of the children had received messages in Arabic during the Muslim holiday, while in his room was found a note that said “he will die and become a witness”. No prosecution was brought, while the children’s father’s claims were not examined. The ECtHR ruled that authorities should exercise increased diligence in investigating death conditions and those responsible, given the sensitive age of the victims. Violation of the right to life.
PROVISION
Article 2
PRINCIPAL FACTS
The applicant, Hakim Aka, is a Turkish national who was born in 1970 and lives in Istanbul (Turkey).
The case concerned the applicant’s complaint of a lack of an effective investigation into the death of
his two sons.
Mr Aka’s sons, Aykut and Aykan, born in 1991 and 1992, left their home to go to school on
19 November 2007, leaving their mobile telephones at home. The boys did not return to their house
and Mr Aka began a search for them. The following day he informed the police that they were
missing, the police informed the Kartal public prosecutor and the authorities began an investigation.
On 23 November Aykan’s body was pulled out of the sea. He was in his school uniform and had his
rucksack on, which was full of stones. Mr Aka was questioned again on the same day and he gave
the police various pieces of information, including that his son had received a text message in Arabic
during the Muslim holiday of bayram (eid) and that he had found a note from Aykan in the boy’s
room. Among other things, the note stated that Aykan was to “die and become a martyr” on
13 December.
At Mr Aka’s request the authorities carried out a search of the sea near where his son’s body had
been found and Aykut’s body was subsequently pulled up, on 30 November. He was also in his
school uniform with a rucksack full of stones attached to his body with a rope.
In February 2008 the public prosecutor decided not to prosecute over the deaths, effectively closing
the cases. Mr Aka objected to the decisions, alleging that the prosecutor had not carried out an
effective investigation and had failed to follow up on various leads, including his allegation that
someone had also tried to kidnap his youngest son, Volkan, in February 2008. The assize court
dismissed the applicant’s objection in June 2008.
Relying in essence on Article 2 (right to life), Mr Aka complained that the investigation into his sons’
deaths had not been effective.
THE DECISION OF THE COURT
Violation of article 2
In the Court’s opinion, the elements are sufficient to find that the investigating authorities have not taken all the reasonable steps to secure evidence relating to the suspicious deaths of the applicant’s sons. Given the particular vulnerability of the victims due to their young age, which rendered them vulnerable to abuse and manipulation, the authorities would have been expected to demonstrate a heightened diligence to uncover the circumstances which led to their deaths. The Court reiterates in this connection that any deficiency in the investigation which undermines its capability of establishing the circumstances of the case or the person responsible is liable to fall foul of the required measure of effectiveness imposed by Article 2.
The Court concludes in the light of the foregoing that there has been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention in its procedural aspect(echrcaselaw.com editing).
