CASE OF GÜNER v. TURKEY
Violation of Article 5 - Right to liberty and security (Article 5-4 - Procedural guarantees of review)
Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström;Georges Ravarani
4. The applicant was born in 1980 and lives in Istanbul. 5. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. 6. On 22 December 2009 the Ankara Magistrates’ Court decided to restrict access to the investigation file in accordance with Article 153 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (the “CCP”), Law no. 5271 7. On 9 February 2010 the applicant was arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of forming a criminal organisation and fraudulent use of credit cards. 8. On 11 February 2010 the applicant’s statement was taken by the police in the presence of his lawyer and he was questioned at length about his telephone conversations that had been intercepted. The police read out the transcripts of the intercepted conversations, and the applicant did not deny that he had had these conversations but claimed that they did not prove that he was guilty. 9. On 12 February 2010 the investigating judge questioned the applicant in the presence of his lawyer. The applicant denied that he was involved in a criminal organisation and submitted that the intercepted calls did not prove that he was guilty. The investigating judge ordered the applicant’s detention on remand taking into account the strong suspicion that he had committed the alleged offence, the risk of absconding and tampering with evidence as well as the risk of coercing some of the witnesses and victims. 10. On various dates the applicant requested his release pending trial. These requests were dismissed by the courts, having regard to the nature of the offence with which the applicant was charged, the existence of a strong suspicion that the applicant had committed the offence in question, the state of the evidence, the risk of absconding and tampering with evidence as well as the time spent in detention. The applicant objected to these decisions. By decisions of 22 April 2010 and 20 October 2010 the appeal courts, without holding a hearing, rejected the applicant’s objections based on the information contained in the case file. 11. Upon his application, on 19 January 2011, the 26th Chamber of Ankara Criminal Court ordered the applicant’s release having regard to the time he spent in detention.