8.  The applicants were born in 1944 and they live in Malatya. 9.  On the evening of 5 November 1996, ten PKK members came to the applicants’ house. The same day, security forces were informed that a group of PKK members were hiding in the applicants’ village and they carried out an operation in the village to apprehend the PKK members. 10.  At around 11 p.m. the security forces surrounded the applicants’ house and requested them to come out. The applicants and their sons Bülent, born in 1974, and Turabi, born in 1977, emerged from their house. They showed the security forces the direction in which the PKK members had fled. A clash broke out and the security forces fired a rocket which killed Bülent. 11.  Following the death of his son, the first applicant stated before the Doğanşehir public prosecutor that his son had been killed by the security forces. The applicant asked the prosecutor to initiate criminal proceedings. 12.  A preliminary investigation into the incident was commenced by the Doğanşehir public prosecutor. The prosecutor subsequently decided that he had no jurisdiction to prosecute and transferred the case file to the Doğanşehir District Administrative Council. 13.  On 31 July 1997 the Doğanşehir District Administrative Council issued a decision stating that no prosecution should be brought against the members of the security forces. The Council concluded that the applicants’ son had died in the course of a confrontation between PKK members and the security forces. 14.  The applicants filed an objection with the Malatya Regional Administrative Court against the decision of 31 July 1997. 15.  On 29 September 1997 the Regional Administrative Court dismissed the applicants’ objection.