Constitutional Court to examine ‘Cizre basements’

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - Archive

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The Constitutional Court will examine the application regarding the people who were killed in the basements of two buildings in Cizre in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Şırnak during the period of curfews in 2015-2016. The examination will take place on April 21.

Announcing the development on his social media account, lawyer Ramazan Demir has shared the following information by the top court:

"The application is regarding the allegations that the right to personal liberty and security was violated as the curfew imposed by the administrative authorities was not lawful; that the right to life was violated due to the injuries that occurred as a result of unjust and disproportionate use of force by security forces, injured people being held in places where they were in an injured and exhausted manner until they died, these people not allowed to access healthcare services, the effects of the developments on the mental states of the relatives of the related people, the eventual death of the injured, the inability of their relatives to access their deceased bodies, the failure to conduct an effective investigation into the mentioned incidents, the creation of a state of impunity for the public officers who used force, and the misuse of human rights and freedoms by the state; and that the prohibitions as to maltreatment and misuse of fundamental rights and freedoms were violated."

Judicial process: ECtHR to await top court

The European Court of Human Rİghts (ECtHR) pronounced its judgement on Orhan Tunç, one of the 189 people from Cizre, Şırnak who lost their lives in the operations launched in the region five years ago.

Announcing its verdict on Tunç, who died in the basement where he took refuge after being wounded, the ECtHR found the application "inadmissible" since "all domestic remedies have not been exhausted."

In its judgement dated February 7, 2019, the court said that there were "special circumstances of the case and the period"; but, it added that those circumstances "did not exempt them from the requirement to make use of remedy of an individual application to the Constitutional Court."

Speaking to bianet about the judgement of the ECtHR, Benan Molu, one of the attorneys following the case, stated, "The court has openly stated that an effective investigation has not been conducted into the death of Orhan Tunç and the process of an administrative suit is not an effective way."

Regarding the related part of the judgement, Benan Molu said, "We are aware of the allegations of applicants and international organizations; however, at this point, we cannot disregard it."

Referring to the Article 131 of the ECtHR judgement, Molu has emphasized that the legal process regarding the violation of rights committed during curfews in Cizre has not been exhausted yet.

The Article 131 of the judgement was as follows:

"The above findings do not prevent the applicants from lodging a new application before the Court in the event of any subsequent developments that may cast doubt on the effectiveness of the remedy of an individual application to the Constitutional Court, for example if the examination of their applications by that court is unduly prolonged, or if the Constitutional Court fails to examine their complaints in a manner that satisfies the requirements of Article 2 of the Convention."

Reminding that there were two case files regarding Orhan Tunç awaiting the judgement from the Constitutional Court, Molu stated:

"The remedies have not been exhausted. The ECtHR says the following: If the Constitutional Court does not announce its ruling on the related cases or gives a ruling that would contradict the established legal precedents, another application can be made to the ECtHR."

(AS/SD)