CEDH · CASELAW;DECISIONS;ADMISSIBILITYCOM;ENG — 18 décembre 2018

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They had all been shot in the head, allegedly by agents of the State. 4.     The remaining two applicants’ relative Mehmet Kılıç was a dual Iraqi and Turkish national who, according to the applicants, was kidnapped in 1989 and handed over by a member of the Turkish military to the authorities in Iraq where he was allegedly hanged. 5.     In 1999 a number of persons accused of killing the relatives of the fifteen applicants, as well as of the kidnapping of the relative of the remaining two applicants, were put on trial. According to the information provided by the applicants, the trial was still continuing in 2014. 6.     The application had been communicated to the Government . THE LAW 7.     The applicants complained under, inter alia , Article 2 of the Convention that the respondent State had been responsible for the deaths of their relatives and alleged that no effective investigation had been conducted into the deaths. 8.     After the failure of attempts to reach a friendly settlement, by a letter of 27 March 2018 the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make a unilateral declaration with a view to resolving the issue raised by the application. They further requested the Court to strike out the application in accordance with Article   37 of the Convention. The declaration provided as follows: “I declare that the Government of the Republic of Turkey offers to pay the following amounts to the applicants to cover any and all pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and all costs and expenses, plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants: – EUR 25,000 (twenty five thousand euros) jointly to Nihari Sevim, Harun Sevim and Bişar Sevim; – EUR 30,000 (thirty thousand euros) jointly to Hanım Utanç, Hüsnü Utanç, Ramazan Utanç and Kıyaseddin Utanç; – EUR 30,000 (thirty thousand euros) jointly to Hezar Caner, Hayat Caner, Haci   Caner, Mehmet Caner, Lale İşlek, Fatma Caner, Ömer Caner and Ali Caner; and – EUR 30,000 (thirty thousand euros) jointly to Safiye Kılıç and Hekima Kılıç. These sums will be converted into Turkish liras at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court to strike the case out of its list of cases. In the event of failure to pay these sums within the said three-month period, the Government undertake to pay simple interest on them, from expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points. The payment will constitute the final resolution of the case. The Government considers in the present case, the investigation conducted into the deaths of the applicants’ four relatives did not meet the standards enshrined in Article   2 of the Convention. The Government undertakes to adopt all necessary measures to ensure that the obligation to carry out effective investigations is respected in the future.” 9.     By a letter of 15 May 2018, the applicants indicated that they were not satisfied with the terms of the unilateral declaration on the ground that their application concerned very serious human right violations and, as such, respect for human rights and justice required the Court to continue the examination of the merits of their allegations. 10.     The Court reiterates that Article   37 of the Convention provides that it may at any stage of the proceedings decide to strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to one of the conclusions specified, under (a), (b) or (c) of paragraph 1 of that Article. Article   37   §   1   (c) enables the Court in particular to strike a case out of its list if: “for any other reason established by the Court, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application”. 11.     It also reiterates that in certain circumstances, it may strike out an application under Article   37   §   1   (c) on the basis of a unilateral declaration by a respondent Government even if the applicants wish the examination of the case to be continued. 12.     To this end, the Court has examined the declaration in the light of the principles emerging from its case-law, in particular the Tahsin Acar judgment ( Tahsin Acar v. Turkey (preliminary objections) [GC], no.   26307/95, §§ 75-77, ECHR 2003-VI; see also Jeronovičs v. Latvia [GC], no. 44898/10, 5 July 2016). 13.     The Court has reiterated in a number of cases, including in cases brought against Turkey, the obligation under Article 2 of the Convention to carry out an effective investigation when individuals have been killed as a result of the use of force (see, inter alia , Mustafa Tunç and Fecire Tunç v.   Turkey [GC], no. 24014/05, § 169, 14 April 2015 and the case cited therein; see also Gasyak and Others v. Turkey , no. 27872/03, §§ 77-81, 13   October 2009). In a number of its judgments the Court has also held that an excessive delay in an investigation or in a trial in itself render that investigation or trial ineffective for the purposes of Article 2 of the Convention (see Cerf v. Turkey , no. 12938/07, §§ 80-81, 3 May 2016 and İncin v. Turkey , no. 3534/06, §§ 31-32, 9 January 2018). 14.     Having regard to the nature of the admissions contained in the Government’s declaration, as well as the amounts of compensation proposed – which are consistent with the amounts awarded in similar cases –   the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application (Article   37   §   1   (c)). The Court stresses that its decision is without prejudice to the possibility for the applicants to exercise any other available remedies in order to obtain redress (see   Jeronovičs v. Latvia (dec.), no. 547/02, § 54, 10 February 2009, and, mutatis mutandis , Jeronovičs , cited above, §§ 116-118).   In this connection the Court notes that the trial concerning the deaths of the applicants’ relatives is still open (see paragraph 5 above). 15.     In the light of the foregoing, and in particular given the clear and extensive case-law on the topic, the Court is satisfied that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto does not require it to continue the examination of the application (Article 37   §   1 in   fine ). 16.     Finally, the Court emphasises that, should the Government fail to comply with the terms of their unilateral declaration, the application could be restored to the list in accordance with Article   37 § 2 of the Convention ( Josipović v. Serbia (dec.), no. 18369/07, 4   March 2008). In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list. For these reasons, the Court, unanimously, Takes note of the terms of the respondent Government’s declaration under Article 2 of the Convention and of the modalities for ensuring compliance with the undertakings referred to therein; Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article   37   §   1   (c) of the Convention. Done in English and notified in writing on 24 January 2019.   Hasan Bakırcı   Ledi Bianku   Deputy Registrar   President Appendix   No. Firstname LASTNAME Birth year Nationality Place of residence Representative                 Nihari SEVİM 1930 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun                 Harun SEVİM 1974 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun                 Bişar SEVİM 1969 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun                 Hanım UTANÇ 1956 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun                 Hüsnü UTANÇ 1981 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun                 Ramazan UTANÇ 1988 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun                 Kıyaseddin UTANÇ 1985 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun                 Hezar CANER 1960 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun                 Hayat CANER 1990 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun             Haci CANER 1988 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun             Mehmet CANER 1987 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun             Lale İŞLEK 1978 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun             Fatma CANER 1975 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun             Ömer CANER 1980 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun             Ali CANER 1982 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun             Safiye KILIÇ 1949 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun             Hekima KILIÇ 1984 Turkish Şırnak M.N. Girasun