European Court of Human Rights

SECOND SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 26855/10
Mehmet Selim ÖZDEMIR
against Turkey

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 5 June 2012 as a Committee composed of:

              Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre, President,
              Guido Raimondi,
              Helen Keller, judges,
and Françoise Elens-Passos, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 19 April 2010,

Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The applicant, Mr Mehmet Selim Özdemir, is a Turkish national, who was born in 1977 and lives in Erzurum.

The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.

The applicant argued under Article 3 of the Convention that he had been subjected to ill-treatment during his time in police custody. Relying upon Articles 5 and 6 of the Convention, he complained that his pre-trial detention and the criminal proceedings against him had been excessively long.

On 25 August 2011 the complaint under Article 6 of the Convention as to the excessive length of the criminal proceedings against the applicant was communicated to the respondent Government.

On 19 October 2011 and 17 April 2012 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicant agreed to waive any further claims against Turkey in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay him EUR 5,000 (five thousand euros) ex gratia to cover any and all pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which would be converted into Turkish liras at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. It will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court. In the event of failure to pay this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on it, 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 LAW

The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the application.

In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list pursuant to Article 39 of the Convention.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.

              Françoise Elens-Passos              Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre
              Deputy Registrar              President