CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 19 novembre 2008

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TURKEY   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Grand Chamber hearing today Wednesday 19 November 2008 at 9.15 a.m. in the case of Varnava and Others v. Turkey (application nos. 16064/90, 16065/90, 16066/90, 16068/90, 16069/90, 16070/90, 16071/90, 16072/90 and 16073/90).   The hearing will be broadcast from 2.30 p.m. on the Court’s Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).     The applicants   The case concerns an application brought by 18 Cypriot nationals, nine of whom disappeared after being captured and detained during the Turkish military operations in northern Cyprus in July and August 1974. The other applicants (three of whom have since died and been replaced by their heirs) are or were relatives of the men who disappeared.   The applicants are or were: Andreas and his wife Giorghoulla Varnava, who lived in Lymbia; Andreas and his father Loizos Loizides (now deceased), who lived in Nicosia; Philippos Constantinou and his father Demetris Peyiotis, who lived in Nicosia; Demetris Theocharides and his mother Elli Theocharidou (now deceased), who lived in Nicosia; Panicos and his mother Chrysoula Charalambous, who lived in Limassol; Eleftherios and his father Christos Thoma (now deceased), who lived in Strovolos; Savvas and his wife Androula Hadjipanteli, who lived in Nicosia; Savvas and his father Georghios Apostolides, who lived in Strovolos; and, Leontis and his wife Yianoulla Sarma, who lived in Limassol. The applicants were born, respectively, in: 1947, 1949, 1954, 1907, 1954, 1929, 1953, 1914, 1955, 1935, 1951, 1921, 1938, 1938, 1955, 1928, 1947 and 1949.   Summary of the facts   The applicants claimed that eight of the missing men were seen in Turkish prisons in 1974; they have been considered missing ever since. A number of the applicant parents also claimed that they had identified their missing sons in photographs published in Greek newspapers showing Greek-Cypriot prisoners of war. The body of the ninth missing man, Savvas Hadjipanteli, was discovered in 2007.   The applicants made the following claims:   Varnava and Sarma In July and August 1974 Andreas Varnava and Leontis Sarma’s battalions were stationed in the vicinity of Mia Milia to man the Cypriot outposts. On the morning of 14 August 1974, Turkish military forces, supported by tanks and with air cover, launched an attack on the area. Cypriot forces retreated and the surrounding area was captured by the Turkish military forces.   Loizides In July 1974 Andreas Loizides was serving in a battalion which was moved to the Lapithos area to support Greek Cypriot forces there. The soldiers were split up into various groups and the applicant was in charge of one of those. On 5 August 1974 they were over-powered by Turkish forces and ordered to retreat. Since 6 August 1974 none of the members of his group have seen Mr Loizides.   Constantinos Mr Constantinos was posted with a section of his battalion to Lapithos. Following a full-scale attack from the Turkish Army on 6 August 1974, the group split up.   Theocharides At about 04.30 hours on 26 July 1974 Mr Theocharides’ company came under attack from a Turkish paratroops battalion, with 20 tanks, who broke through Greek Cypriot lines, infiltrating the right flank of the applicant’s company. When his company was regrouped, he was missing.   Charalambous On 24 July 1974 Mr Charalambous came under fire from Turkish soldiers while searching buses in the Koutsoventis Vounos area with two or three other soldiers. He was wounded in the right hand and on the left side of his ribs. After his wounds were cleaned and his gun loaded, he went back. He has not been seen again by his unit.   Thoma On the morning of 20 July 1974 Eleftherios Thoma was involved in trying to prevent Turkish military forces landing in the area of "Pikro Nero", Kyrenia. At around 12.00 hours on 21 July the Turkish military forces which had landed, supported by tanks and with air cover, attacked Cypriot forces defending the area. The applicant’s battalion was ordered to retreat. After the battalion had been regrouped the applicant was missing.   Hadjipanteli On 18 August 1974 Mr Hadjipanteli, a bank employee, was taken for questioning by Turkish soldiers. According to the applicants, representatives of the International Red Cross in Cyprus visited Pavlides Garage in the Turkish occupied sector of Nicosia and on 28 August 1974 recorded the names of 20 Greek Cypriots held there, including the applicant.   On 27 August 1974 a group of Turkish Cypriot civilians went to a bank where they emptied two safes and ordered a third to be opened, but they were told that the keys were with the applicant. Subsequently they returned with the keys for that safe, which the applicant always carried with him.   In 2007, in the context of the activity of the United Nations Committee of Missing Persons (CMP), human remains were exhumed from a mass grave near the Turkish Cypriot village of Galatia in the Karpas area. The remains of Mr Hadjipanteli were identified and several bullets were found in the grave. Mr Hadjipanteli’s medical certificate indicated a bullet wound to his skull, a bullet wound in his right arm and a wound on his right thigh.   The Turkish Government disputed that the applicants had been taken into captivity by the Turkish army during the military action in Cyprus in 1974. They considered that all the alleged "missing persons", except for Mr Hadjipanteli, were military personnel who died in action in July-August 1974. The Government noted that the International Red Cross had visited the Pavlides Garage, where Mr Hadjipanteli had allegedly been held, but his name did not appear in the list of Greek Cypriots held.   The Government of Cyprus submitted that the nine men went missing in areas under the control of the Turkish forces.   Complaints   The applicants rely on Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), 4 (prohibition of forced labour), 5 (right to liberty and security), 6 (right to a fair trial), 8 (right to respect for private and family life), 10 (freedom of expression), 12 (right to marry), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights.   Procedure   The applications were lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights on 25 January 1990. They were joined by the Commission on 2 July 1991, and declared admissible on 14 April 1998. They were transmitted to the Court on 1   November 1998.   On 17 February 2000, the President of the Court gave the Cypriot Government leave to intervene as a third party in the Court’s proceedings.   In a Chamber judgment of 10   January 2008, the Court held, by six votes to one, that there had been a continuing violation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights concerning Turkey’s failure to conduct an effective investigation into the whereabouts and fate of nine of the applicants, who disappeared in life-threatening circumstances; that there had been a continuing violation of Article 3 of the Convention concerning the remaining nine applicants, relatives of the nine men who disappeared; that there had been a continuing violation of Article 5 concerning Turkey’s failure to conduct an effective investigation into the whereabouts and fate of the nine men, concerning whom there was an arguable claim that they had been deprived of their liberty at the time of their disappearance; unanimously, that no violation of Article 5 had been established concerning the alleged detention of the nine men, and that it was not necessary to examine the complaints under Articles 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention.   On 28 March 2008 the Government requested that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber under Article 43 (referral to the Grand Chamber) and on 7 July 2008 the panel of the Grand Chamber accepted that request.   On 18 September 2008, the organisation REDRESS were granted leave to intervene in the written procedure.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by the Grand Chamber composed as follows:   Jean-Paul Costa (French), President , Françoise Tulkens (Belgian), Josep Casadevall (Andorran), Boštjan M. Zupančič (Slovenian), Rait Maruste (Estonian), Anatoly Kovler (Russian), Dean Spielmann (Luxemburger) Sverre Erik Jebens (Norwegian), Ineta Ziemele (Latvian), Mark Villiger (Swiss) [1] , Päivi Hirvelä (Finnish), Luis López Guerra (Spanish), Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska (citizen of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”), Nona Tsotsoria (Georgian), Ann Power (Irish), Zdravka Kalaydjieva (Bulgarian), judges , Gonul Eronen (Turkish) , ad hoc judge , Lech Garlicki (Polish), Vladimiro Zagrebelsky (Italian), Elisabeth Steiner (Austrian), substitute judges , and also Erik Fribergh , Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government of Turkey :   Zaim Necatigil , Agent ,   Jochen Abr. Frowein , Sülen Karabacak , Tanju Bilgiç , Deniz Akçay , Aslıhan Özdemir , Advisers ;   Government of Cyprus :   Petros Clerides , Agent ,   Vaughan Lowe , Françoise Hampson , Stella Mary Joannides , Claire Palley , Advisers ;   Applicants :   Achilleas Demetriades , Lakis Christodoulou , Ian Brownlie , Counsel ,   Levon Arakelian , Costas Paraskeva , Advisers.     ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. A decision on admissibility, followed if appropriate by a judgment, will be delivered at a later date [2] .   Press contacts Adrien Raif-Meyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 33 37) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Sania Ivedi (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 59 45)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. [1] Judge elected in respect of Liechtenstein. [2] This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.