ECHR: Constitutional Court First

The European Court of Human Rights rejected an applicant from Turkey, saying that the applicant has not "exhausted remedies" of Turkish court system - a verdict that emphasized on Turkey's new individual application process to Constitutional Court. The decision was taken by a majority (5 votes to 2).

On January 3, relying on Articles 6 (right to a fair hearing) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination), Hasan Uzun complained that the visit to the property in the presence of experts and witnesses had taken place the day before the scheduled date and that his two witnesses had not been notified of the change.

As the domestic proceedings in Mr Uzun’s case had ended on 25 September 2012 and the right of individual application before the CCT – under Law no. 6216 – was accessible in respect of all decisions that had become final after 23 September 2012, the Court found that Mr Uzun should have lodged an application with the Constitutional Court.

"As the domestic remedies had not been exhausted, the application was declared inadmissible," the verdict said yesterday.

"The present decision was not therefore a ruling on the effectiveness of the remedy in question." (AS/BM)