CASE OF DİK v. TURKEY
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Administrative proceedings;Article 6-1 - Access to court)
Ledi Bianku;Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström
4. The applicant was born in 1980 and lives in Van. 5. Relying on Law no. 5233 on Compensation of the Losses resulting from Terrorism and the Measures Taken against Terrorism, the applicant applied to the compensation commission and requested to be awarded compensation due to forced evacuation from his village. His request was rejected. Subsequently, he initiated proceedings before the Van administrative court to have the said decision annulled. Relying on documents attesting to his poor financial status, the applicant requested legal aid to pay the court fees. On 7 July 2006 the administrative court rejected the applicant’s legal aid request. He was notified that he had to pay 604 Turkish Liras (TRY) (approximately 330 euros (EUR)) in court fees within one month to continue the proceedings and that failure to do so would result in the discontinuation of the proceedings. As the applicant failed to pay the court fees within the time-limit, on 2 August 2006 and 27 October 2006 respectively, the Van Administrative Court sent further warning letters and ordered the applicant to pay the court fees. 6. On 29 December 2006 the court decided to discontinue the proceedings since the necessary court fees were not deposited with the registry of the court. The Supreme Administrative Court upheld the judgment on 17 December 2008. Subsequently, the administrative court decided to discontinue the proceedings.