5.  The applicant was born in 1969 and lives in Ordu. 6.  On 1 January 2004 the applicant was driving a van in Istanbul, accompanied by his friend Mr V.S., when police officers travelling in a police vehicle saw them and suspected that the van might have been stolen. The police officers then indicated to the applicant to pull over. 7.  According to the applicant, he stopped the van and he and his friend got out and the police officers caught him after a chase. Despite having thus been apprehended and despite the lack of any further resistance on his part, the police officers slammed his face on the ground before proceeding to hit him and kick him. He and his friend were then taken to a police station where the police officers handcuffed him and blindfolded him before continuing to beat him up. 8.  According to a report drawn up by three police officers who arrested the applicant and his friend, by contrast, the applicant ignored the police officers’ warnings to stop and continued to drive. When he and his friend eventually stopped the vehicle and got out, they started running. The police officers caught up with the applicant and his friend, and had to use force in order to handcuff the applicant. In the course of that use of force the applicant’s chin and various other parts of his body were injured. 9.  The same day the applicant was taken to Şişli Etfal Hospital where he was examined by a doctor. Subsequently he was placed in a cell in the police station. 10.  According to the report drawn up at the hospital, the doctor observed a bleeding wound, measuring 5x5 centimetres, on the applicant’s chin. A plastic surgeon stitched the wound, and a neurosurgeon carried out a further examination of the applicant’s head. 11.  At the end of his police custody on 4 January 2004 the applicant was examined by another doctor at the Şişli Etfal Hospital. The one sentence in the doctor’s report reads that there were “no signs of ill-treatment” on the applicant’s body. 12.  On the same date the applicant was brought before a prosecutor. A letter of referral drawn up by a police chief and addressed to the prosecutor states that force had to be used to arrest the applicant on 1 January 2004. The same day the applicant was brought before the judge at the Bakırköy Magistrates’ Court who ordered the applicant’s remand in prison. 13.  On 12 January 2004 the applicant and his friend V.S. lodged an official complaint with the Istanbul prosecutor (“the prosecutor”), accusing the police officers of ill-treatment during their arrest as well as in police custody. In the complaint the applicant gave details of the alleged ill-treatment, and requested to be examined, inter alia, by the Third Specialist Commission of the Forensic Medicine Institute so that the physical signs of ill-treatment could be properly established. 14.  On 11 February 2004 the applicant was examined by a doctor at the Bakırköy Forensic Medicine Institute. The applicant informed the doctor about his complaints of ill-treatment which, he alleged, had caused deterioration in his eye-sight. The doctor recorded in a report the presence of the stitched wound on the applicant’s chin, and asked the prosecutor for previous medical reports to be forwarded to her with a view to preparing a “definitive medical report”. 15.  On 10 March 2004 the prosecutor questioned the three police officers who had arrested the applicant. In the three identical statements the police officers were quoted as having denied the allegations of ill-treatment, and as having told the prosecutor that while running away from them the applicant had fallen to the ground, thereby injuring himself. 16.  On 29 December 2004 the prosecutor decided not to prosecute the police officers. The prosecutor considered that the injury on the applicant’s chin which had been noted in the medical reports, as well as the other injuries which had been noted in the arrest report of 1 January 2004, had been the result of the lawful force which had been used when arresting him. The prosecutor considered that the fact that the applicant had not mentioned his complaints of ill-treatment when he had been brought before the prosecutor or before the Magistrates’ Court on 4 January 2004, was further proof to show that his injuries had been caused as a result of the lawful use of force. 17.  The applicant lodged an objection against the prosecutor’s decision and repeated his allegations of ill-treatment. He argued that the prosecutor had not collected all the available evidence and had not heard any eye-witnesses. 18.  On 9 March 2005 the Beyoğlu Assize Court dismissed the applicant’s objection in its decision which was served on him on 25 March 2005.