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the Southern Federal Circuit | 62. On 18 September 2003 the district prosecutor's office sent a request for information to all the district prosecutor's offices in Chechnya. The letter referred to the detention of the three men on 16 December 2001 by unidentified armed persons and asked the offices to check whether Beslan Khutsayev, Movsar Khutsayev and Adam Didayev had ever been detained or treated in medical institutions. On the same day the investigators requested information about the three men from various State authorities in Chechnya and in |
State | 26. On 28 November 2008 the trial court found the applicants guilty and imposed a prison sentence in respect of six applicants and a suspended sentence in respect of the others. As the trial had ended and the applicants had a permanent residence and family in the respondent |
Gekhi | 16. Thereafter the Musayev brothers were brought to the Urus-Martan Temporary Office of the Interior (временный ОВД Урус-Мартановского района, “the VOVD”) and questioned. The first applicant submitted, with reference to the witnesses' accounts, that after the interrogation her sons and three other persons apprehended in |
the Achkhoy‑Martan District | 26. On 17 June 2000 the investigators from the town prosecutor’s office questioned the applicant who stated that on 9 February 2000 she had returned to Grozny from Ingushetia and found out that her sisters Shema and Shamani had been killed by servicemen from military unit no. 3737. On the same date she had found her sisters’ bodies in the basement at no. 154B Pugacheva Street and had subsequently buried them at a cemetery in |
the Northern Caucasus | 99. Between 22 August and 23 October 2003 the investigators forwarded several requests to a number of State officials, including the military commander of the UGA, the head of archives of the Headquarters of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of the Interior in |
Dundas | 11. On 27 July 2001 Greenpeace requested permission to visit “the Dundas peninsula around the Thule Air Base”. By fax of 30 July 2001 the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed Greenpeace that Thule Air Base, including the |
Baltic Sea | 9. Before the Second World War the applicant's mother occupied a dwelling house (“the house”) on a plot of land measuring 1,422 square metres (“the plot”) in the centre of the tourist resort of Palanga on the |
the North Caucasus | 17. Following Saydi Malsagov’s disappearance the applicants repeatedly applied, both in person and in writing, to various official bodies, trying to find out the whereabouts and fate of their relative. They also personally visited places of detention in the Chechen Republic and elsewhere in |
Staropromyslovskiy | 50. On 4 March 2001 an investigator from the Chechnya Prosecutor's Office sent a request to the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102 (Khankala), asking him to identify the exact locations of the military units at the relevant time, to identify the commanding officers and to retrieve notes referring to operations in the |
Transdniestria | 78. In a report entitled “State to Public: Genuine Public Service Broadcasting in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine?” (December 2005), Article 19, an international non-governmental organisation based in London which works on issues connected with freedom of expression, found as follows (footnotes omitted):
“3.1. Overview
Moldova was the first country of the CIS to embark on a process towards the establishment of PSB [public service broadcasting]. It is also currently the only one of the three countries to have transformed its State broadcasting company, TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM), into a PSBO [public service broadcasting organisation]. Yet while PSB exists in theory, in practice the new broadcasting company remains only nominally independent from government control, and output continues to be heavily biased in favour of the existing regime. Overall, it fails to provide viewers and listeners with accurate and objective information and a plurality of views and opinions. The consolidation of a genuine PSB structure will depend on the ability and will of the authorities to fully implement the newly-adopted provisions, as well as on the success of civil society's campaigning efforts.
In March 2003, the Moldovan Parliament adopted the Law on Amending and Supplementing Law No.1320-XV on the National National Public Broadcasting Company TeleRadio-Moldova (First Amending Law), which modified a previous law passed in July 2002 (PSB Law) following recommendations from the Council of Europe. A later controversial amendment to the Law, adopted in November 2003, provided for the liquidation of TRM, enabling its reincarnation as PSB, as well as the replacement of its entire staff (Second Amending Law).
For a prolonged period of time it remained unclear how the re-staffing would be carried out, and generally journalists and human rights organisations were not provided with essential information as to the mechanisms that would be employed to implement these measures. In addition, the initial debates which led to the adoption of the First Amending Law in its first reading were held in an atmosphere of virtual secrecy. At this stage the company's staff was utterly unaware of the fact that a law on TRM was being debated in Parliament.
Similarly, the process by which the Second Amending Law was adopted did not provide for sufficient opportunity for public consultation, despite the significant public importance of a law of this nature. The draft was submitted to Parliament by seven MPs on 13 October 2003, and adopted in its first reading almost immediately; it then passed its second reading exactly a month later. Some local NGOs and international organisations, such as the Council of Europe, acted very rapidly in providing recommendations on the draft. Other groups simply did not have the time to participate in this process.
Despite the changes, TRM is still under the influence of the authorities. In addition, the quality of programmes has been quite low since the transformation. There is a need for additional funding, to train the employees and raise the standards of professional journalism.
Another worrying fact is that there has been a progressive decrease in the diversity of media outlets. 'Analitic Media Grup', the media organisation that founded Pervii Kanal v Moldova, which until recently re-broadcast the Russian First Channel - as well as having some programmes of its own, including Moldovan news - , was deprived of its licence in October 2005. The licence was, instead, given to a newly-established, unknown television station, which allegedly has close links to President Vladimir Voronin. The decision to deprive ORT Moldova of its licence was reached very speedily; there was even a special edition of the Official Monitor announcing it, to avoid a wait of approximately three days for the decision to come into effect. This development is even more worrying as the old Moldova ORT displayed virtually no criticism of the authorities, and frequently its portrayal of the authorities was positive. Moldova ORT was one of the main television channels in Moldova, together with TRM and private NIT. With TRM and NIT heavily pro-governmental, the new development is likely to dramatically reduce the (already limited) diversity of the Moldovan broadcast scene.
The breakaway region of |
Gazel | 59. On 16 May 2006 the attesting witness for both searches, Mrs O.P., stated that both had been initiated by a number of the special police force officers – who were wearing masks and were armed with automatic weapons – running into the houses. At the Vashayevs’ house the witness had seen one man being led out, with his pullover over his head, and being stood up against the police vehicle with his legs apart. When she had entered the house, the men of the house were lying on the floor face down, with their hands behind their heads, while the woman was sitting on the sofa. The men were then allowed to stand up; they walked around the house and, initially, they had voiced their objection to the search. The search at the Antayevs’ family home had proceeded in a similar manner. She had seen Mr A.Sh. and the ninth applicant talking by the fence; she had also seen the eighth applicant in the |
Urus-Martan | 42. In a letter of 10 August 2004 the military prosecutor’s office of the United Group Alignment confirmed, in reply to the first applicant’s complaint of 20 April 2004, that the criminal proceedings concerning the attack of 19 October 1999 on |
premises | 19. At 6.01 p.m. on 1 February 2002, Mr Broekhuijsen was arrested on suspicion of having violated Article 184 of the Criminal Code. He was not taken to the police station but remained on the applicant company’s |
the Leninskiy Distict | 14. On 12 November 2002 the Grozny Prosecutor's Office informed the applicant that an investigation into her husband's kidnapping had been instituted on 11 November 2002 under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (“aggravated kidnapping”). The decision to institute the investigation stated, inter alia:
“On 29 October 2002 at approximately 2 a.m. unidentified men armed with automatic weapons in masks and camouflage uniforms, having broken down the entrance door, entered apartment no. 77 at Bogdana Khmelnitskogo street, house 141, building 5 in |
premises | 44. In reply to the judge’s letter of 5 March 2008, by a letter dated 16 April 2008 the MNS informed the judge that the first applicant, who was at that time detained in the MNS pre-trial detention facility, had been diagnosed with hypertension and was being provided with the relevant treatment. However, the MNS’s letter was silent as to the judge’s requests for information concerning the first applicant’s presence on the |
Hyde Park | 13. The Municipality did not adopt a decision in respect of the application before the first date of the planned demonstration, on 4 September 2007. Therefore, at 9 a.m. that day the applicants started their protest in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. At 9.25 a.m. Ghenadie Brega, Oleg Brega and a |
Urus-Martan | 19. At around 3 p.m. the servicemen gathered in the street in front of house no. 28 where the initial shooting had broken out. The soldiers laughed and said that they had killed one fighter (“boyevik”) and another one had run away. At about 3.30 p.m. the head of the town administration and the head of the |
Urus-Martan | 6. At the material time the Urus-Martan district and the town of Grozny were under the full control of the Russian federal forces. Military checkpoints manned by Russian servicemen were located on all roads leading to and from the area, which was under a strict curfew. A checkpoint manned by policemen from the Special Task Unit of the Yaroslavl region (“the OMON”) was located on the road between the town of Urus-Martan and the village of Gekhi. The applicants and Adam Makharbiyev lived in Gekhi, in |
St. Maarten | 9. On 8 May 1996 the applicant was arrested in New York (USA) and placed in detention on the basis of a extradition request from the authorities of the Netherlands Antilles where he had been charged with embezzlement and forgery. He was extradited to the Netherlands Antilles on 30 May 1996 and detained in the Pointe Blanche Penitentiary on the island of |
the Northern Caucasus | 57. On 9 April 2004 the unit military prosecutor’s office again questioned the head of the Headquarters, officer Sh. He stated that the information note about the killing on 17 September 2003 of the two rebel fighters had been based on the field report by the Temporary Operational Troops of the Ministry of the Interior in |
the Ural Mountains | 9. According to Vatan’s constitutional charter, it was founded “to support the renascence of the Tartar nation, to enhance the latter’s political activity and to protect Tartars’ political, socio-economic and cultural rights”. The name “Tartar” applies to the peoples of Turkic origin who speak a language which belongs to the Ural-Altaic language family. Four-fifths of the Tartars (about 5.5 million people) live in the Russian Federation: the majority live in the Republic of Tatarstan and the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the rest are dispersed across |
Urus-Martan | 36. It does not appear that the first applicant applied personally to law-enforcement agencies in connection with the attack of 2 October 1999. It can be ascertained from the documents submitted that Mr A. Khamzayev, a former resident of |
the Grozny District | 34. Between midnight and 3 a.m. on 22 February 2003 a group of about ten men, wearing camouflage uniforms, masks and armed with automatic rifles consecutively broke into three houses in Dachu-Borzoy, in |
the Argun river | 13. Witness Umayat D. is a resident of Novye Atagi and knew Said-Khuseyn Imakayev from school. On 17 December 2000 he was at the market in Starye Atagi. At about 2 p.m. he met Said-Khuseyn Imakayev, who said he had wanted to buy a jacket but had not found anything. He offered D. a lift back to their village, but D. was driving himself and declined. He later learnt that Imakayev had been detained by Russian soldiers on the road near the bridge over |
Black Sea | 19. The Van Public Prosecutor initiated an investigation against the gendarme officers. In this connection, both Mr Erişen and Mr Demir gave statements to the Bitlis Public Prosecutor on 17 and 26 August 2005. They both stated that they had been ill-treated by the gendarmes during their custody period. Mr Erişen further explained that he had heard that two of the gendarmes’ names were Seydi and Orhan, and that Seydi spoke with an accent of the |
premises | 36. On 11 October 2004 the investigators also questioned the head of the Khasanya village administration, Mr A.Z., who gave a statement similar to the applicants’ submission before the Court. In addition, he stated that when he had asked the head of the UBOP, officer K., whether Rasul Tsakoyev had been detained on their |
Microdistrict | 6. Not having received the flat, the applicant sued the enterprise. On 24 November 1997 the Kropotkin Town Court ordered the Town Authority to provide the applicant with a three-room flat in the 199-apartment house no. 19, 20, 21 that was being constructed in |
South America | 20. In a judgment of 5 December 2006, notified to the applicant’s representative on 22 January 2007, the Federal Court dismissed the applicant’s administrative-law appeal, finding as follows:
“... 2.1. Under Article 264 of the Civil Code – in the version in force since 1 January 2003 – a child may be adopted if the future adoptive parents have cared for it and provided for its education for at least one year, and if all the circumstances make it foreseeable that the establishment of a parent-child relationship will further the child’s welfare without unfairly affecting the situation of any other children of the adoptive parents. All adoptions must thus be preceded by a placement and fostering relationship of a certain duration. An imperative condition for adoption, this measure serves to justify the subsequent establishment of a parent-child relationship, to allow a probationary period for those concerned, and to provide the opportunity and means to ensure that the adoption will further the child’s welfare (ATF [Federal Court judgments] 125 III 161 point 3a p. 162 and citations). Under Article 316 of the Civil Code, the placement of children with foster parents is subject to the authorisation and supervision of the supervisory authority or another office for the place of residence of the said parents, as designated by cantonal law (§ 1); where the child is placed with a view to its adoption, a single cantonal authority is competent (§ 1 bis, as in force since 1 January 2003); the Federal Council stipulates the requirements for implementation (§ 2).
In accordance with Article 11b of the Federal Council Order of 19 October 1977 governing the placement of children for the purposes of support and with a view to adoption (‘the OPEE’; RS 211.222.338), as in force since 1 January 2003, placement authorisation is given only where the personal qualities, state of health and educational capacities of the future adoptive parents and other persons living in their household, together with the housing conditions, offer every guarantee that the placed child will benefit from appropriate care, education and training, and that the well-being of the other children living in the family will be safeguarded (§ 1 (a)), that there is no statutory impediment to the future adoption and that all the circumstances put together, in particular the motives of the future adoptive parents, enable it to be foreseen that the adoption will further the child’s welfare (§ 1 (b)). The authority must particularly take the child’s interest into account where the age difference between the child and the adoptive parent is more than forty years (Article 11b § 3 (a) OPEE; see, on this issue, ATF 125 III 161 point 7a p. 167/168).
This primary condition of adoption – the welfare of the child (Article 264 of the Civil Code) – is not easy to verify. The authority must ascertain whether the adoption is really capable of ensuring the best possible development of the child’s personality and of improving his or her situation; that question must be examined in all respects (emotional, intellectual, physical), without attributing excessive weight to the material factor (ATF 125 III 161 point 3a in fine p. 163 and citations). 2.2. Under Article 264b § 1 of the Civil Code, an unmarried person – whether single, widowed or divorced – may adopt alone if he or she is at least 35 years old. In this form of adoption, the parent-child relationship is established with a single parent. As a result of that situation, the adoptive parent must, on his or her own, assume the duties that meet the child’s needs and remain available to care for the child to a degree that exceeds that required of each parent in a couple adopting jointly. Accordingly, the authority must particularly take into account the child’s interest where the applicant is not married, or where he or she is unable to adopt jointly with his or her spouse (Article 11b § 3 (b) OPEE). The legislature’s intention was that joint adoption should be the rule and adoption by a single parent the exception (ATF 111 II 233 point 2cc p. 234/235). It may indeed be considered that the child’s interest, which is paramount, consists in principle of living in a complete family. Nevertheless, the law does expressly permit adoption by a single person, without subjecting him or her – unlike those wishing to adopt an adult or a person deprived of legal capacity (Article 266 § 1 Chapter 3 of the Civil Code) – to the existence of ‘valid reasons’. In any event, where the requisite conditions for the child’s welfare are satisfied, and the adoption by a single person meets all the requirements for the child’s fulfilment and personality development, the adoption will be granted; in such cases, at the preliminary placement stage, the conditions laid down in Article 11b of the OPEE will be satisfied, and the placement authorisation must be granted (ATF 125 III 161 point 4b p. 165 and citations). 3.1. The court below found that the appellant had appropriate educational qualities. She can count on a wide network of persons who support her in her project and have promised to help her take care of the children when she is busy. Since the refusal of the authorities of the Canton of Jura (see B.a above), she has changed the organisation of her life by moving to Geneva, where she carries on her professional activities; since November 2004 she has been renting accommodation in an area close to the parish church of which she is maître de chapelle and in a building that also houses the offices and secretariat of the music festival of which she is the artistic director. Lastly, her financial resources are sufficient (7,000 [Swiss francs] per month). Those points being established, it is not necessary to examine them again. 3.2. In her application of 19 January 2004 the appellant had sought authorisation to receive ‘a second child, from |
Cricova | 8. In the meantime, on 28 January 2009 the applicant’s family learned of his situation and employed a lawyer. As a result of the lawyer’s involvement, on 30 January 2009 the applicant was transferred back to |
Pionerskaya | 103. The judgment further stated that all three aforementioned expert reports had established that no measures to implement the federal programme in question had been taken. It then described in detail the poor state of the |
Выборгского | 6. On the evening of 14 April 2000 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of having committed murder and remanded in custody in detention facility IVS of police station no. 36 in the Vyborgskiy District of St Petersburg (ИВС при 36 отделении милиции |
Achkhoy-Martan | 39. On 21 June 2005 the military commander of the Chechen Republic forwarded the applicant’s complaint about abduction of her sons by armed men in camouflage uniforms to the military commander’s office of the |
Freeport | 14. By that date, only a portion of the four plots of land had been used, the remaining portion remaining unused but earmarked for future expansion. More precisely, most of Plot 2 is currently being developed as a stacking area for containers for the purposes of the Freeport, the remaining 500 sq. m forming part of an area of land conceded on lease by the Freeport Corporation to Medserv Ltd. Plot 3 (consisting of a farmhouse and adjacent rural structures) and Plot 41 are outside the |
the Achkhoy-Martan District | 57. On 19 and 20 February 2010 the applicant was again questioned. She submitted that on 17 February 2009 her daughter had shown her a photo of Mr Apti Zaynalov that she had printed off from an Internet page together with the accompanying text. The text alleged that officers of the Ministry of the Interior of the Chechen Republic had apprehended a resident of Ingushetia aged twenty-nine years who had confessed to being a member of an illegal armed group in |
the Staropromyslovskiy District | 7. At some point in 1999 due to heavy hostilities between Russian forces and Chechen fighters the applicant moved to a refugee camp in Ingushetia. Two of her sisters, Shema Inderbiyeva and Shamani Inderbiyeva, and her mother Yakhita Inderbiyeva remained in their flat – no. 10 in the block of flats at 154B, Pugacheva Street in |
Urus-Martan | 32. In a letter of 3 September 2003 the district prosecutor’s office informed the first applicant that a number of investigative actions in criminal case no. 24031 had been taken, and in particular the scene of the incident had been inspected, fragments of bombs had been seized, new expert examinations had been ordered, and the military commander of the Chechen Republic (военный комендант Чеченской Республики) had been requested to take steps aimed at disposing of unexploded air bombs found in the residential district of |
the Magadan Region | 51. The court also noted that during the six-month period of the defendants’ detention pending trial the case had not been examined for reasons beyond the court’s control, such as the composition of the jury, issues concerning some jurors’ participation in the trial, and difficulties in ensuring the appearance of victims and witnesses who lived in a remote district of |
premises | 13. On 27 March 2003 the applicant was charged with covering up a crime committed by others (Article 295 of the Penal Code). In particular, the investigators suspected that in October and November 2002 the applicant had helped to hide stolen cars on the |
the Malgobek District | 78. On 4 September 2006 the town prosecutor’s office carried out a confrontation between Magomed M., inspector on duty of the Ministry of the Interior, and Oleg Dzh., officer on duty of the UFSB on the night of 4 to 5 December. Magomed M. confirmed his statement of January 2005 (see paragraph 65 above) that he had talked to Oleg (Ali) Dzh. on that night and that the latter had confirmed to him that the UFSB had carried out a special operation in |
Khankala | 173. On 10 November 2006 the investigators questioned the first and the second applicants and Mr S.U. All of them reiterated their earlier statements. The first applicant additionally stated that in May 2002 she had met a woman at the central market in Grozny whose son had been detained in |
the Sunzhenskiy District | 24. On 17 April 2004 the Ministry of the Interior of Ingushetia informed the second applicant that the investigation into the murder of Umar Zabiyev in case no. 03600032 had been commenced by the district prosecutor's office. It noted, in particular, the following:
“As a result of the investigative measures taken it was established that the crime had been committed by the servicemen of military intelligence unit no. 194 KTG («разведрота 194 КТГ») with the direct involvement of the head of that unit, [S.P.], nicknamed 'the Snake' («Змей»), who is unable to leave the location of the unit in the village of Dattykh in |
Syrianochori | 43. Applicant no. 16, Mr Ioannis Hadjinikolas Kamilares, claimed that his father, Mr Nicolas Georgiou Hadjinicola Kamilares, had owned the following properties:
(a) Syrianochori, plot no. 142, sheet/plan XIX/14E2, registration no. C95, orange plantation; share: whole; area: 3,614 sq. m;
(b) |
Khankala | 17. According to another resident of Gikalo, Mr V.Ts., at about 7.20 a.m. on 27 February 2000 he arrived at his brother's house. There he saw a military vehicle with about fifteen armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms on it; some of them were wearing masks. The servicemen had specially trained German shepherd dogs with them. The majority of these men were of Slavic appearance, but two of them looked Asian. The servicemen checked the passports; after that one of them spoke with someone via a portable radio set. After that the witness and his brother were taken by the military vehicle to the village centre. There they were transferred to an Avtozak vehicle in which the witness found a number of his fellow villagers, including Murad Gelayev. From there the detainees were taken to the |
Dolni Pasarel | 26. At a hearing held on 29 May 2003 the court admitted in evidence the additional expert report relating to the house, which also concluded that it was divisible, and the expert report concerning the value of the plot in |
State | 39. As regards his questioning, the court stated that the applicant had been given four hours (between noon and 6 pm.) after being served with the transcript of the witness’s statement in a language that he had understood to put questions to him in writing. No extension of this time-limit could have been granted, given that the witness had only had leave to remain for twenty-four hours in the respondent |
Central Sudan | 17. On 6 August 2012 the FAC dismissed the applicant’s appeal. It held that the applicant’s statements regarding the itinerary he had taken while fleeing already lacked credibility. Owing to rigid border controls, it was according to them almost impossible to get to Calais without any travel documents, even if they were only forged. The applicant should therefore have been able to submit some form of travel document. The FAC further considered that the birth certificate submitted had no value as evidence. It ruled that it could have been forged, since in Sudan such certificates were obtainable in exchange for bribes. However, even assuming that it was authentic, it was only evidence that the applicant had been born in Darfur, but not where he had grown up and been socialised. By contrast, the Lingua analysis of 21 September 2004 gave clear answers to those questions and had shown that the applicant originated from |
Oryol Regional | 11. According to the applicant, in September 2000 he had been detained for several days in a punishment cell with an inmate, Mr Ye., who was suffering from an active form of tuberculosis. Mr Ye. had been constantly coughing up blood. The applicant’s requests for a transfer to another cell received no response from the colony administration. Soon after release from the punishment cell the applicant had fallen ill. However, his numerous complaints to the colony medical division had been to no avail. Relying on a certificate issued by the |
the United Nations Protected Area | 6. The events at issue took place in Vukovar, a Croatian town near the Serbian border which was heavily attacked by the Yugoslav People’s Army and paramilitary Serbian armed forces during the armed conflict in Croatia from August to November 1991 and was finally occupied at the end of November 1991. Between 1992 and 1996 Vukovar was a part of |
Ayios Amvrosios | 11. As a result of the 1974 Turkish military intervention the applicant had been deprived of his property rights, his properties being located in the area which was under the occupation and overall control of the Turkish military authorities. The latter had prevented him from having access to and using his property and his parents’ house located in |
the River Sava | 7. On 25 August 1991 a number of members of the “Wolves” (Vukovi) unit of the Sisak police entered the house of the applicant’s son Z.T., They abducted Z.T., the applicant’s second son B.T. and her former husband N.T. On 26 August 1991 the body of N.T. was found in |
Bug River | 33. Meanwhile, in the spring and summer of 2003, during the process of preparing a bill designed to settle the “Bug River claims” (“roszczenia zabużańskie”; hereafter “the Government Bill” – see also paragraphs 111-13 below), the government estimated the number of claimants and the value of the claims. According to the government, there were 4,120 registered claims, of which 3,910 were verified and regarded as meeting the statutory conditions. The registered claims were valued at three billion new Polish zlotys (PLN). There were also 82,740 unverified claims pending registration, of which 74,470 were likely to be registered. The anticipated value of the unverified claims was PLN 10.45 billion. The anticipated total number of entitled persons was 78,380. As the parliamentary debate over the Government Bill – a debate which was widely discussed throughout the Polish media – progressed, the number of |
Khankala | 34. On the same date the Grozny city prosecutor’s office initiated a criminal investigation into the events, under Article 126 § 1 of the Criminal Code (kidnapping). The case file was given the number 52112. The relevant parts of the decision read as follows:
“...On 30 August 2002 [Muma Babuyev] went to the military settlement of |
Urus-Martan | 8. On 29 January 2000, following the outbreak of armed conflict in Chechnya, Yusup Satabayev joined one of the paramilitary groups which fought against the federal army. According to the applicant, he stayed with the paramilitary group for less than a month, during which time there were no armed confrontations, and then left. On 23 February 2000 he arrived in Martan-Chu, in the |
the Astrakhan Region | 24. The applicant Mr Bashirov also produced a copy of a letter which the Astrakhan Regional prosecutor’s office had sent to his counsel on 28 February 2008 in response to a complaint about the conditions of detention raised by another detainee. The letter stated as follows:
“On 29 February [sic] 2008 a deputy district prosecutor and deputy heads of prison no. 1 in charge of logistics, the detention regime and the medical unit carried out a comprehensive technical examination of cell 79. At the time of the examination, cell 79 had twelve sleeping places but housed fifteen persons. The above-mentioned examination of cell 79 also established that similar violations had occurred in a majority of cells of the prison. In connection with the overcrowding, dilapidated state of the building and other violations of the Pre-trial Detention Act, the district prosecutor’s office sent two warnings to the director of the Federal Penitentiary Service in |
Yaylatepe | 40. On 11 April 2000 the military prosecutor took a statement from Mehmet Zeki Bahşi. Mr Bahşi had performed his military service in the area in question at the relevant time but had since completed his service and been discharged from the army. He had taken part in the operation under Lieutenant Güldal's command. Mr Bahşi stated that on the night in question he had been using night vision binoculars and had thus been able to see the two persons. The soldiers had then started firing to the left and right of the two men, upon which the two had started running towards the river bed. When the soldiers opened fire in that direction, the two people had put their hands up and said “Stop firing; we surrender”. Lieutenant Güldal had then ordered the two men to lie on the road but they refused to do so, instead advancing towards the soldiers on |
Europe | 9. In 1996 the Cyprus Motorcycle Federation (CMF) organised a demonstration aimed at protesting against the Turkish occupation of the northern part of Cyprus. On 2 August 1996 a group of over one hundred Cypriot and other European motorcyclists set off from Berlin and made their way through |
Ural | 8. The first applicant is the father of Said-Rakhman Musayev (born in 1984). On 10 December 2000 Said-Rakhman and his cousin Ruslan T. visited their grandmother in a neighbouring village. At about 8 or 9 p.m. they were returning to Raduzhnoye in a UAZ-469 car. They were stopped at the edge of the village by military servicemen with two APCs and ordered out of the car. Ruslan later testified that the servicemen had searched them and inspected the car, tied their hands behind their backs and put them into the back of a |
premises | 66. On the same date the applicant’s lawyer complained to the military prosecutor of the United Group Alignment (“the UGA”) and the district prosecutor that the investigation of the criminal case was ineffective. In particular, he pointed out the following:
“... The investigation is being conducted in a slipshod manner. It is obvious that the death of Mamed Bagalayev was caused by a gunshot from a military serviceman’s automatic weapon ...
... For your information, as of 21 June 2005 neither eyewitnesses to the events, nor the parents of the murdered boy have been questioned by the investigators. The investigators have not questioned any of the servicemen stationed on the |
the Şehit Kamil District | 19. On 31 March 1994 the applicant and the DEP Member of Parliament for Siirt, Naif Güneş, met the representative of the Governor of Gaziantep. The Gaziantep Security Director and the Provincial Gendarmes Commander were also present. The Gendarmes Commander said that the body of Mehmet Şen had been found by a shepherd near the village of Karpuzkaya in |
Achkhoy-Martanovskiy | 20. On the same day an internet newspaper called “Kavkazskiy uzel” reported as follows:
“Today a considerable number of residents of the village of Valerik gathered at the central square of Achkhoy-Martan, Chechen Republic. They wanted the State authorities to liberate their 22-year-old fellow resident Shamkhan Tumayev, who had been abducted by armed men wearing masks on 19 September. The residents of Valerik consider that Tumayev was kidnapped by officers of the battalion named after Akhmed Kadyrov.
Several days before, a large number of servicemen of that battalion (the former security service of the President of the Chechen Republic) had arrived in the [ |
the Urus-Martan District | 12. On 10 February 2000 the applicant and Ms F.A. went to the Staropromyslovskiy District military commander’s office to obtain permission to bury her sisters’ remains in the cemetery of the village of Valerik in |
the Kurşunlu plain | 142. He said that the Kurşunlu plain was about two kilometres long and 600-800 metres wide. It was flat with three or four sporadic trees. It was completely surrounded by mountains. In the forested area there were oak trees, bushes and rocks. He identified the location shown on two photographs of the places where the bodies of Mehmet Akan and Derviş Karakoç had been found as being on |
premises | 13. On 29 June 2010 the Budapest Regional Court dismissed the applicants’ requests for judicial review. The court held that the display of the red star contravened section 269/B of the Criminal Code, despite the Vajnai judgment, whose application in the circumstances had been no task of the police officers present on the |
Dniestr | 22. The Moldovan Government considered that the Convention responsibility of the Russian Federation continued to be engaged having regard to the latter’s support for the Transdniestrian regime and to the fact that they maintained their troops on the territory of Moldova, in breach of international law, of the OSCE Summit Statements in Istanbul (1999) and in Porto (2002) (see also Ilaşcu, Ivanţoc, Leşco and Petrov-Popa cited above, §§ 124, 354 and 387), and of Law no. 173-VI of 22 July 2005 on essential provisions on the particular legal status of the towns on the left bank of |
the Tornio River | 9. In 1971 Finland and Sweden concluded the Frontier Rivers Agreement (Suomen ja Ruotsin välinen rajajokisopimus, gränsälvsöverenskommelsen mellan Finland och Sverige; SopS 53-54/1971), which included provisions on the right to fish in |
the Urus-Martan District | 53. On 23 October 2004 Mr Yu., Ms Yu.’s son, was questioned. He submitted that in the winter of 2003 the second applicant had told him that Ms Yu. had taken USD 2,800 from him promising that his son would be released but had not kept her word. The second applicant had demanded that Mr Yu. pay him back. Mr Yu. had requested an explanation from his mother who had confirmed that she had taken the money from the second applicant and given it to a policeman of |
Central or East Sudan | 15. By a decision of 8 June 2012 the FOM rejected the applicant’s asylum request. It ruled that he had only joined the SLM-Unity after he had left his home country and after his first asylum request had been dismissed in 2005. He had not proven that he had in-depth knowledge of the structure and agenda of the SLM-Unity, nor had he been able to precisely describe his responsibilities as human rights officer of that organisation. According to the FOM, it was therefore evident that his political activities only served to create subjective post-flight grounds (subjektive Nachfluchtgründe). Furthermore, his statements regarding the interview given to the local TV channel had been very vague, and it was not established that the interview had been broadcast at national or international level. While the FOM did not dispute that the Sudanese government was monitoring political activities of opposition leaders abroad, it held that the authorities were only focusing on people with a high political profile. They did not have the resources to monitor people like the applicant, whose activities were carried out at low level. It was therefore unlikely that his political involvement had attracted their attention. In addition, the FOM ruled that the applicant, who had failed to submit identity papers and had made contradictory statements regarding his ethnicity, could a fortiori be returned to Sudan because the Lingua analysis had shown that he did not originate from Darfur, but from |
the Khmelnytskyy ITT | 81. The Shepetivka Court next expressed its concern over the way the investigation had received the statements by the taxi driver Mr K. (according to the court's ruling – a key witness in the case), who had recognised the applicant as one of his two passengers whom he had driven to the building where the crime was committed, around the time of the murder, had waited for there for about half an hour and had then driven to a café. The court noted that on 22 March 2004 the investigator had questioned Mr K. as a witness in the case concerning the murder of Ms I., while at the same time Mr K. was detained in |
Straits | 36. On 13 March 1992 the applicant company appealed against the judgment of the Istanbul State Security Court. The applicant company disputed the court’s conclusion that a state of war existed between Turkey and Cyprus. The ground of appeal also questioned the legitimacy of the court’s reliance on the earlier Vassoula case, and pointed out that the arms cargo had only been in transit through the |
Presnenskiy | 16. On 6 November 2003 the Moscow City Court granted the Commission's request and annulled the first applicant's registration as a candidate for the Duma elections. It established that the first applicant had submitted untrue information about his employment as head of the district council of the |
Oktyabrskiy District | 7. However, in Saransk the applicants were stopped by the police (acting in the course of a special operation named “Vikhr [Vortex] - Anti-terror”), allegedly beaten up, handcuffed and brought to a temporary detention centre at the |
Europe | 6. The article read:
“The Turkish bourgeoisie has being advancing their intention of associating with the European Community since the date of the Treaty of Rome. However, the economic and political problems of Turkey have not been solved since that date. The conditions for association have not been established either.
On the other hand, the founders of the European Union are not keen on taking on board a huge problem with its fifteen million unemployed people and serious economic and social problems.
Considering the still unresolved problems of German unification and the unexpected economic integration of East European countries, the acceptance of Turkey by the Community definitely seems impossible.
However, |
the Middle East | 40. On 27 August 2002, the Acting Head of the AIVD sent a further official report to the national public prosecutor responsible for combating terrorism. This report reads in its relevant part:
“I. The recruitment network
In the exercise of its statutory task, it has appeared to the AIVD from reliable, vulnerable sources, that a network of extremist muslims is active in the Netherlands which is in particular involved in providing material, financial and logistical support and in propagating, planning and inciting to actually using violence for the benefit of the international jihad. The members of this network understand jihad as the armed battle in all its forms against enemies of Islam, including the (for them) unacceptable governments in |
Black Sea | 39. Later that day Mr Z. Kh. had been questioned. He had explained that on 28 June 2009 at approximately 9 a.m. he had gone out in his GAZ-3102 car and, having told his relatives that he was going to a service station, decided instead to go to the |
Leninskiy district | 34. On 21 December 1998 the investigator discontinued the criminal proceedings against the police officers for lack of evidence of a crime. The investigator found that the applicant had been arrested on 10 September 1998 in connection with the disappearance of MS. On 11 September 1998 the police had carried out a search of the applicant’s car and found three gun cartridges. On the same day the applicant and F had been released. However, shortly after their release inspector N of the Bogorodsk police had identified certain factual gaps in their written submissions. Inspectors N and D had followed the applicant and found him at the town’s railway station. The applicant had been disturbing passers-by by addressing them with obscene language. As a result the applicant had been arrested again and on the next day made the subject of an administrative arrest for disturbance of the peace. On 16 September 1998 a new criminal case had been opened against the applicant in relation to the gun cartridges found in his car. On 19 September 1998 a detention order had been issued against the applicant on this new ground. On the same day he had been transferred to |
Meriç | 70. On 10 February 1998 the Edirne Security Directorate informed the Ministry of the Interior in Ankara that the search for Talat Türkoğlu was ongoing and that it was established that the allegations made in the applicant's letter sent to the Edirne Security Directorate were unfounded since his body had not been found in or near the river |
Europe | 75. The Constitutional Court considered Article 2 of the Italian Constitution, which provided that the Republic recognises and guarantees the inviolable rights of the person, as an individual and in social groups where personality is expressed, as well as the duties of political, economic and social solidarity against which there was no derogation. It noted that by social group one had to understand any form of community, simple or complex, intended to enable and encourage the free development of any individual by means of relationships. Such a notion included homosexual unions, understood as a stable cohabitation of two people of the same sex, who have a fundamental right to freely express their personality in a couple, obtaining – in time and by the means and limits to be set by law – a juridical recognition of the relevant rights and duties. However, this recognition, which necessarily requires general legal regulation, aimed at setting out the rights and duties of the partners in a couple, could be achieved in other ways apart from the institution of marriage between homosexuals. As shown by the different systems in |
Seine | 14. In a judgment of 11 October 1999, the Paris Criminal Court convicted the second applicant of defamation and the first applicant of complicity in that offence, taking account, however, of only four of the six offending extracts, namely those on pages 10, 86, 105-06 and 136 of the book. They were each sentenced to pay a fine of 15,000 French francs (FRF) (equivalent to 2,286.74 euros (EUR)) and ordered jointly and severally to pay FRF 25,000 (EUR 3,811.23) in damages to each of the civil parties, together with the cost of publishing an announcement of the judgment.
In its judgment the court found as follows:
“Whether the publication was defamatory:
It should first be noted that, whilst the author chose to write a ‘novel’, as indicated on the front cover of the book, he portrays, along with a number of fictional characters, an actual and living political figure, namely Jean-Marie Le Pen, and his party, the Front National. In addition, the author announces the subject matter of his work in the title itself, ‘Jean-Marie Le Pen on Trial’. On the back cover he asks the question ‘How can Jean-Marie Le Pen be fought effectively?’ and in the first few lines of the book he raises another question: ‘Isn’t the Chairman of the Front National responsible for the murder committed by one of his teenage militants inflamed by his rhetoric?’ The reader thus immediately becomes aware that the fictional trial is a vector for direct criticism of Jean-Marie Le Pen, especially since the facts described are largely, and obviously, inspired by actual events which have had a great impact on public opinion.
Accordingly, although it is a novel, and although the offending remarks are only made by fictional characters, it can nevertheless be observed that the work seeks to impart clearly expressed ideas and to communicate a certain image of Jean-Marie Le Pen, his party and their behaviour. The classification of the charge cannot therefore be ruled out purely on the basis of the technique used to that end.
The text, regardless of its literary genre, is capable of harming the honour and reputation of the civil parties and it is appropriate to examine each of the offending extracts to establish their meaning and significance and to determine whether, for the charge of defamation to be made out, they are precise enough for the issue of proof to be addressed.
First passage, page 10: To allege that Jean-Marie Le Pen is the chief of a gang of killers – in other words, that he heads a group of murderers – constitutes, in the context of the book, an evidently defamatory allegation of sufficiently precise conduct, reference being made to the racist crime committed by the novel’s protagonist, a young Front National member whose criminal act is said to have been inspired by the ideas advocated by Jean-Marie Le Pen.
It is of no consequence that the crime of ‘Ronald Blistier’ is not real, because the author’s intention is not to write a satire about an impossible event but, on the contrary, to make the reader believe that, given Jean-Marie Le Pen’s ideology, such a scenario is quite plausible and that he would be accountable for it. The story also evokes – inevitably, for the reader – the trial in June 1998 of the Front National billstickers accused of killing a Comorian youth, Ibrahim Ali, in Marseilles. Similarly, when the author, a few passages further on, recounts the killing of a black youth called ‘Julien Thoris’, who is thrown into the |
Северо-Кавказского региона | 64. In June 2000 the military prosecutor requested the chief of staff of the United Group Alignment (UGA) (начальник штаба ОГВ), the chief of staff of the Internal Troops Alliance in the Northern Caucasus (начальник штаба группировки ВВ МВД РФ на территории |
Balkans | 61. The report observed that:
“Police reportedly use pressure and threats to discourage Roma from pressing charges of police brutality. In 1998 and 1999, Roma in the town of Vráble lodged complaints against a local law enforcement officer ... for allegedly attacking teenage Romani boys. The Ministry of the Interior investigated the case and found [the officer] not guilty ... In March two Roma from the eastern town of Michalovce voluntarily came to the police station for questioning. They were allegedly beaten by some police officers. The victims suffered several injuries including broken legs, hands and ribs. When questioned about the incident, the police first claimed that the action was justified but later admitted that it was unwarranted.” 6. International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights: Human Rights in the OSCE Region: The |
premises | 24. The applicant appealed against the first-instance judgment on 4 and 22 April 2005, alleging that his defence rights had been violated in that he had not been given an opportunity to consult the case file. He alleged that on 1 October 2004 he had been brought to the Prelog Municipal Court in order to consult the case file. However, owing to the large volume of documents in the case file, the time allowed for that purpose had not permitted him to consult all the documents he had wished to. It had therefore been agreed that the requested documents would be copied and sent to him in prison. However, this request had only partially been complied with and he had never had an opportunity to read the whole case file. He further alleged that he had complained about this at the hearing held on 1 April 2005 but that his allegations had been ignored. He further complained that the search of his |
Europe | 26. The Court of Appeal echoed the reasons given by the Criminal Court and added that there was sufficient evidence in the case to demonstrate that the applicant had been contacted regularly in order to be kept informed of events, that he had been responsible for funding GIA operations in |
Rhône | 27. Meanwhile, on 20 February 1998, the Minister of the Interior had issued an order requiring the applicant to reside in the Rhône département, in a place to be determined by the prefect. It included the following passage:
“Whereas Mr Ali Mehemi Ali was permanently excluded from French territory by a judgment of the Fourth Division of the Lyons Court of Appeal on 4 July 1991 ...
Section 1: Until such time as he is able to comply with the order permanently excluding him from France, the above-mentioned person shall reside where required to by the prefect of the |
the Nizhniy Novgorod Region | 11. On 11 March 2009 the applicant arrived in Russia via the Moscow Domodedovo International Airport (“Domodedovo Airport”). On 23 July 2009 he was issued with a temporary residence permit valid until August 2012. He lived in Dzerzhinsk in |
North Caucasus | 38. On 10 September 2002 the National Public Commission for Investigation of Offences and Protection of Human Rights in the North Caucasus requested the military prosecutor’s office of the North Caucasus Circuit (“the |
the Urus-Martanovskiy District | 37. On 8 September 2001 the Grozny town prosecutor’s office received a complaint by Z.T. about the abduction of Abdula Edilov. The complaint bore a handwritten note dated 13 September 2001 and reading “to be transferred to the prosecutor’s office of |
the North Sea | 83. In section 5.7.4 of the above-mentioned 2003 Lossius report, the following observation may be found under the title “Work on diving tables offshore”:
“[1] Diving tables specify how rapidly a diver can be decompressed following a dive (a table for compression prior to a dive is called a compression profile). The physical and medical factors are addressed in more detail in (3), above. It is primarily the decompression tables that have been and continue to be the subject of discussion. The main issue here is the ascent speeds indicated in the tables and the use of increased O2 content in the breathing gas in order to reduce the ascent time. The time factor is important since the purpose of the table is to bring the diver up to normal pressure without injuries, while prolonged decompression can be very uncomfortable for the diver. In the case of commercial diving in |
the Central District of Yerevan | 6. On 1 August 2002 the Government adopted Decree no. 1151-N, approving the expropriation zones of the immovable property (plots of land, buildings and constructions) situated within the administrative boundaries of |
Mayskiy | 58. On 7 December 2012 the investigators also questioned the husband of the first applicant, Mr I.Ts., who stated that he had accompanied the first applicant in the search for Mr Akhmed Buzurtanov when the latter had not returned home. Driving around |
Urus-Martan | 56. On 26 September 2001 the second applicant requested the district prosecutor's office to question the former head of the district department of the FSB, the former senior investigator of that department and the former military commander of the |
the Khmelnytsk Region | 15. On the same date the prosecutor issued a decision rejecting the applicant’s complaints and informed the applicant of it. The relevant parts of the decision read as follows:
“...On 15 January 2001 A. V. Kaverzin was questioned at the regional prosecutor’s office in the course of consideration of the question of ... his placement in Kharkiv [SIZO] No. 27. During his questioning with the participation of [his] defence lawyer, A. V. Kaverzin explained that he had sustained the injuries in the course of his arrest, that he did not have any complaints against the police, [and] that he had made his first statements freely, without psychological or physical pressure on the part of the police officers.
The [police] officers ... who had taken part in the arrest of A. V. Kaverzin [were questioned and] explained that they had been aware that A. V. Kaverzin had used firearms during his attempted arrest by the police in |
Sokol district | 8. Later, the policemen took the applicant to a special Metro police station for further questioning. According to the applicant, as soon as the interrogation had begun, the policemen beat him to make him sign a confession they had prepared. The applicant refused to sign. Angry about this refusal, the policemen cuffed the applicant’s hands behind his back, dropped him on the floor, and applied electric shocks to his neck, kidney and liver areas and private parts. They kicked the applicant in the stomach, put him in a chair, and beat his head with a document file until he fainted. Fifteen minutes later the policemen told the applicant that they would hand him over to officers from the |
Ivanovo | 8. At the material time the applicant lived with his family in his own house at 148 Klyuchevaya Street in the Staropromyslovskiy District of Grozny, in the residential quarter referred to by the local residents as |
the Eastern District of New York | 31. On 23 July 2015 the Government submitted their response and attached a document issued by the Office of International Affairs of the US Department of Justice called “supplemental information to Spain on Sentencing Issues in Relation to Andres Lopez Elorza, a/k/a ‘Andres Lopez Flores’ (hereinafter, “the US report”). The report stated the following:
“By way of introduction, Lopez Elorza’s extradition is sought in order for him to stand trial on federal narcotics offenses in |
Europe | 18. The hearing of the appeal was adjourned for reasons unconnected with the present application, and resumed almost a year later, on 16 October 2001, when the applicants repeated their submission that the present case was indistinguishable from Rowe and Davis v. the United Kingdom [GC], no. 28901/95, ECHR 2000-II (see paragraphs 37-38 below), and that, in order to comply with Article 6 of the Convention, the Court of Appeal was required either to quash the conviction or order full disclosure of all relevant evidence not seen by the trial judge. In its judgment of 1 November 2001 ([2001] EWCA Crim 2226), the Court of Appeal rejected the argument that it could never be appropriate for it to conduct an ex parte hearing to determine a claim for public interest immunity in respect of material which had not been placed before the trial judge. It explained its approach in the disclosure proceedings as follows:
“We turn next to the ex parte hearing which we held at the first stage of this appeal and its consequences. We considered the matter in relation to which the prosecution claimed public interest immunity before us in the context of all the matter before the trial judge, both disclosed on his order and undisclosed. We specifically bore in mind the grounds of appeal and the terms of the letter of 31st March 2000, from the CPS to the appellants' solicitors setting out their disclosure strategy in response to the solicitors' request for disclosure. We also specifically considered whether there was disclosable material relating to any warning by the Israeli ambassador or any involvement in the bombing by Mossad or in relation to bombings in Argentina in 1992 and 1994. Our approach was to consider whether there was a public interest in the non-disclosure of particular matter and, if there was, whether this was outweighed because it might, if disclosed, have helped the defence on issues raised by them at trial.... Because a year had elapsed between the first and second stages of this appeal we again, at the second stage, and in accordance with the same considerations, looked at the matter in relation to which public interest immunity was claimed. We also took into account the further submissions made on behalf of the appellants during the second stage of the appeal. We are unpersuaded that the Crown's system and strategy in relation to disclosure ... is flawed. In particular the suggestion that they adopted too narrow an approach is unsubstantiated.
Having considered all the matter placed before us in this way, we were and are entirely satisfied about five things. First, prosecuting counsel have had access to everything they want to see and have examined all relevant and potentially material matter ... and they have continued to keep the need for disclosure under review. Secondly, the trial judge was correct to rule as he did in relation to the disclosure and non-disclosure of the matter before him. Thirdly, no one has attempted to conceal from this court any relevant or potentially material matter. Fourthly, public interest immunity has been rightly claimed in relation to the matter which we have seen, because it affects national security at the highest level and would, if disclosed, present a clear and immediate threat to life. Fifthly, apart from the two matters to which we shall refer, there is nothing of significance before this court which was not before the trial judge. Having ordered disclosure of these matters to the appellants, in a suitable form, and having heard submissions in relation to them, we are satisfied that no injustice was done to the appellants by not having access to that matter at trial. We say this, first, because the matter added nothing of significance to what was disclosed at trial and, secondly, because, for whatever reason, no attempt was made by the defence at trial to exploit, by adducing it in any form before the jury, the similar material in relation to the embassy which had been disclosed at trial. This included information, on the day before the bombing, that Hizbollah was planning attacks in London and Geneva and, after the bombing, that it had been carried out by Hizbollah using non‑Muslim mercenaries. Information was also disclosed that three named Iranians were involved in the bombing under the direction of the IRGC Chief in |
South‑Western | 28. On 9 April 2005 an investigator with the town prosecutor’s office issued a decision, finding no evidence of criminal conduct. The relevant part of the decision read as follows:
“Policeman Kul. explained that on the morning of 13 September 1999 the |
Pirin Macedonia | 14. An earlier attempt by the United Macedonian Organisation Ilinden (“Ilinden”), an unregistered association based in south-western Bulgaria, in an area known as the Pirin region or the geographic region of |
Marum 1:8 | 17. The applicant appealed to the Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen). She later requested, inter alia, that no further action be taken on the case pending the outcome of division proceedings which she had begun in October 1990. In these proceedings, the applicant claimed that the joint ownership of the two estates should be dissolved and individual plots be assigned to the family members. Following several decisions taken by the Real Estate Formation Authority (Fastighetsbildningsmyndigheten – “the REFA”) and the courts, the case had to be referred back by the Court of Appeal to the REFA for re-examination as the latter had made procedural errors. Subsequently, by a decision of 1 December 1995, the REFA allowed the creation of four individual plots on |
the Motajica mountain | 17. On 22 September 2006 the Sisak County Court found both M.G. and the applicant guilty of three counts of murder motivated by personal gain and sentenced each of them to forty years’ imprisonment. The judgment also held that they had taken no less than 960,000 Croatian kuna from the house of the victims. The applicant was convicted solely on the basis of the evidence given by S.Š. The relevant part of the judgment reads:
“The first accused M.G. ...
and
The second accused Neđo Ajdarić ...
are guilty
in that they: 1. on the night of 8 to 9 October 1998, in accordance with their previous agreement with an unknown woman, after arriving in a Peugeot 406, licence plates BJ 406 BF, at no. 23 A.G. Matoš Street in Kutina, residence of R.S., I.Š. and G.C., and having parked the car near the house, in the knowledge that I.Š., R.S. and G.C. kept a large amount of money in the house, left the car in order to kill them and appropriate their money, while the unknown woman hid close by the car and kept guard so that nobody would find them. They entered the house in which late I.Š., R.S. and G.C. lived, through the door in an unidentified manner, approached G.C. who was asleep in his bed and from a 7.65 mm calibre Scorpion gun shot two bullets into the head of G.C. from a distance of about eighty centimetres and thus caused him two gun-shot wounds to the head ... from which he died instantly, and then took and kept an unidentified amount of money, but no less than 960,000 Croatian kuna, and distributed it between them;
... 2. immediately after the offence under point 1., at the same place and in the same manner, after they had entered the house, shot two bullets at R.S. who was asleep, from the 7. 65 mm calibre Scorpion gun from a distance of eighty centimetres, thus causing him two gun-shot wounds to the head, ... from which R.S. died instantly, and then took from the house and kept for themselves an unidentified amount of money, but no less than 960,000 Croatian kuna, which they distributed between them;
... 3. immediately after the offence described under point 1. and in the same place and at the same time from the said 7.65 mm calibre Scorpion gun, shot two bullets into the head of I.Š., who was asleep, from a distance of eighty centimetres, thus causing her two gun-shot wounds to the head ...from which I.Š. died instantly, and then took an unidentified amount of money, but no less than 960,000 Croatian kuna, which they distributed between them;
...
R e a s o n i n g
...
Witness S.Š. said that he had been placed in detention in Bjelovar Prison because he had been sentenced to a seven-year prison term. His conviction was not final. Owing to his health problems he had been transferred to Zagreb Prison Hospital. He had stayed there in room no. 206 from the end of November 2005 until 13 January 2006. He had met the first accused for the first time in the prison hospital. They had spent time together and he had immediately told the first accused why he had been detained, but the first accused had at first not wished to disclose the reason for his own detention. They had had an argument about the defence counsel of the first accused. He [S.Š] had been displeased by certain comments that the first accused had made about her.
In mid-December of 2005 the second accused [the applicant] had been placed in the same room [having been transferred] from Remetinec Prison. [S.Š.] had noticed that the first and the second accused had greeted each other as if they already knew each other. The second accused’s bed had been placed between his and that of the first accused. The first and the second accused had talked a lot between themselves ... He had overheard their conversations while lying on his bed and reading the newspapers. ...
... he learned from these conversations that the two of them knew each other from Banja Luka. ... The first and the second accused had also talked about a mobile telephone and the second accused had said that he had come to Kutina with a certain S. and that they had waited there for a long time for a woman to return to the house. They had said that they had not known that a third person had been present in the house.
From these stories he had understood that, apart from the three of them, the first accused’s wife had also been implicated, and that it [sic] had concerned an exchange office in which a childhood friend of the first accused had worked. The second accused had feared being discovered and the first accused had told him that one woman, a witness, had changed her statement in their favour. The second accused had told the first accused that he would pay for his defence ...
He had also learned from their conversations that the second accused and the first accused’s wife had crossed the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina at Davor, because the first accused’s wife had had to take the mobile telephone belonging to the first accused back to Croatia, while S. had crossed to Bosnia and Herzegovina at Stara Gradiška. The money had been carried by the second accused and the first accused’s wife as well as the two mobile telephones, while the first accused had returned to Bjelovar. They had taken the mobile telephones to Bosnia and Herzegovina because it had been necessary to send signals to Bjelovar: the signals had been sent from |
Europe | 451. Mrs Şahin was further recorded as having said that she was a PKK sympathiser as her husband was Kurdish and gave assistance to the PKK. She acted as a PKK courier between prisons and PKK prisoners. She took part in the successful campaign to close down the Eskişehir Prison. She and her spouse had connections with PKK activities in |