SEVIM AND ÖNCEL v. TURKEY

 
 
 
Communicated on 25 March 2019
 
SECOND SECTION
Application no. 13874/10
Vahit SEVİM and Mehmet Hanifi ÖNCEL
against Turkey
lodged on 17 February 2010
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the alleged unfairness of the criminal proceedings due to the systemic restriction imposed on the applicants’ right of access to a lawyer during the pre-trial stage pursuant to Law no. 3842 and the subsequent use by the trial court of the statements taken in the absence of a lawyer (see Salduz v. Turkey [GC], no. 36391/02, ECHR 2008; Ibrahim and Others v. the United Kingdom [GC], nos. 50541/08 and 3 others, 13 September 2016; and Beuze v. Belgium [GC], no. 71409/10, 9 November 2018).
QUESTIONS tO THE PARTIES
Did the applicants have a fair trial within the meaning of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, having regard to the principles adopted by the Grand Chamber in the case of Ibrahim and Others v. the United Kingdom ([GC], nos. 50541/08 and 3 others, 13 September 2016) and Beuze v. Belgium ([GC], no. 71409/10, 9 November 2018), has there been a breach of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (c) of the Convention?
 
In that connection, were there any compelling reasons to restrict the applicants’ right of access to a lawyer? If so, had they been temporary and based on an individual assessment of the particular circumstances of the case?
 
–  If answered in the affirmative, could the criminal proceedings as a whole against the applicants be considered as fair within the meaning of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, which of the relevant procedural safeguards (some of which listed non-exhaustively in § 274 of Ibrahim and Others) were taken into account by the domestic courts in order to assess the impact of procedural shortcomings at the pre-trial stage on the overall fairness of the criminal proceedings?
 
–  If answered in the negative, were there any exceptional circumstances in the present case, to demonstrate whether the absence of access to legal advice during the applicants’ police custody had not caused irretrievable prejudice to the overall fairness of the trial?
 
The Government are invited to submit copies of all the relevant documents concerning the applicants’ case, including but not limited to the minutes of all the hearings, the reasoned judgment of the trial court, the evidence listed therein, and the written submissions of the applicants and their lawyers throughout the proceedings.
 


APPENDIX
 
No.
Firstname LASTNAME
Birth year
Nationality
Place of residence
Representative 
Vahit SEVİM
1970
Turkish
Istanbul
İ. Akmeşe 
Mehmet Hanifi ÖNCEL
1974
Turkish
Istanbul
İ. Akmeşe
 

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