Güzelyurtlu & Ors v Cyprus & Turkey (App No. 36925/07)
Related Member(s): Clare Montgomery QC, Jessica Jones
Related Practice Area(s): Human Rights
Court: European Court of Human Rights (Grand Chamber)
Considering the investigation into the killing of three Cypriot nationals of Turkish Cypriot origin in the Cypriot-Government controlled area of Cyprus in 2005, the Court found that there had been no violation of ECHR, art 2 by Cyprus but there had been a violation of art 2 by Turkey. This was because, when the killers fled and parallel investigations were launched in both Turkey and Cyprus, the lack of cooperation between the countries led the investigations to come to an impasse in 2008. The Court found that Cyprus had done all that could reasonably have been expected of it to obtain the surrender/extradition of the suspects from Turkey and that Cypriot authorities could not be criticised for refusing to submit all the evidence and to transfer the proceedings to the authorities of Turkey as that would have amounted to Cyprus waiving its criminal jurisdiction over a murder committed in its controlled area. By contrast, Turkey had not made the minimum effort required in the circumstances of the case: ignoring Cyprus’s extradition requests and returning them without reply.
Clare Montgomery QC and Jessica Jones were involved in this case.
- HUDOC Judgmenthttp://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-189781
- HUDOC Press Releasehttp://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press?i=003-6314055-8246811