An ECtHR case of interest:
Konak v. Turkey 3042/05 03/12/2013 {excerpts}
{Note: 1. The judgment is very terse, due in part, IMO, that this type of violation was common in Turkey at the time. 2. Redress is mentioned at the end (I omitted the just satisfaction and costs sections). 3. Violation is due to the lack of a lawyer during police custody.}
The applicant was suspected of being a leader of an armed illegal organization.
According to the applicant’s statements, he was questioned by police officers on an unspecified date in 1998 but exercised his right to remain silent. During the questioning, he was not provided with a lawyer.
On 29 March 1998, a certain co-accused L.L. was confronted with the applicant, in the absence of a lawyer, and identified him as the secretary of the Marmara District and the person responsible for the Istanbul branch of the organisation.
h of the organisation.
On 1 April 1998, the applicant and twenty-two other accused persons were examined by a doctor who noted that none of them showed signs of physical violence apart from three of them, including L.L. According to the medical report, L.L. had a three-centimetre ecchymosis on her back and face.
On the same day, the applicant was brought before the public prosecutor and the investigating judge at the Istanbul State Security Court where he denied the allegations, in the absence of his lawyer. In his statements, the applicant also mentioned that he had not been provided with a lawyer during his police custody despite his request to that effect. He also denied the confrontation and identification records in his statements made to the public prosecutor. After the questioning was over, the investigating judge remanded the applicant in custody.
On 14 February 2002 the Court of Cassation quashed the conviction for lack of reasoning.
On 26 December 2003 the Istanbul State Security Court once again convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to eighteen years and nine months’ imprisonment. It noted that, according to the confrontation and identification records, certain of his co-accused, namely M.Ş., L.L., T.Ö. and M.Ş., had identified the applicant as the district leader of the organisation. It further found it established that he had taken part in a number of the organisation’s activities such as hanging illegal banners, throwing Molotov cocktails and participating in illegal demonstrations. The court concluded that the applicant had acted as district leader of the organisation in Istanbul.
On 25 May 2004 the Court of Cassation upheld the conviction.
The applicant alleged that his defence rights had been violated as he had been denied access to a lawyer during his police custody. In this respect, he relied on Article 6 § 3 (c) of the Convention. He also maintained that his conviction had been based on statements made to the police by some of the co-accused persons, allegedly which had been taken under duress. Invoking Article 6 § 2, the applicant further complained that the national authorities were biased because they had failed to prove that he was guilty and that they convicted him in the absence of sufficient evidence.
In so far as the applicant argued that he had been denied legal assistance during his police custody, the Court notes that at the material time, the restriction imposed on the applicant’s right to legal assistance was systemic and applied to anyone held in custody in connection with an offence falling under the jurisdiction of the State security courts (see Salduz v. Turkey [GC], no. 36391/02, §§ 56-63, ECHR 2008, and Dayanan v. Turkey, no. 7377/03, §§ 30-34, 13 October 2009). The Court has examined the present case and finds no particular circumstances which would require it to depart from its findings in the aforementioned Salduz judgment.
There has therefore been a violation of Article 6 § 3 (c) of the Convention in conjunction with Article 6 § 1 in the present case.
...The Court, without taking a position on the remaining complaints raised by the applicant regarding the fairness of the proceedings, considers that it is unnecessary to examine them.
The Court further considers that the most appropriate form of redress would be the retrial of the applicant in accordance with the requirements of Article 6 of the Convention, should he so request.