ÇAKICI v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 10 9 November to 1 December 1993; Ertan Altınoluk, who had been gendarmerie commander of Hazro in November 1993 and had commanded the operation at Çitlibahçe on 8 November 1993; Mehmet Bitgin, a villager from Çitlibahçe; Mustafa Turhan, public prosecutor in Hazro from November 1994; Aytekin Türker, the Hazro central station commander at Hazro district gendarmerie headquarters from July 1993 to August 1994; Ahmet Katmerkaya, the gendarme responsible for keeping the custody records at Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie headquarters since August 1992; Kemal Çavdar, a gendarme who had served at Kavaklıboğaz station from July 1993 to August 1995; and Abdullah Cebeci, the brother of the imam who had been kidnapped with five teachers from Dadaş. A further six witnesses had been summoned but did not appear: Aydın Tekin, Hazro public prosecutor in 1994; Colonel Eşref Hatipoğlu, Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie commander; Hikmet Aksoy, who was alleged by the applicant to have seen his brother in detention at Kavaklıboğaz; Tevfik Çakıcı, the father of the applicant and Ahmet Çakıcı; Tahsin Demirbaş and Abdurrahman Al, who had both been detained at Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie headquarters from 8 November to 1 December 1993. It appeared that Tevfik Çakıcı had died prior to the hearing. The Government claimed that they were unable to locate the witness Hikmet Aksoy for the hearing in July 1996 despite the fact that they had been provided with information from the applicant that he was detained in Konya Prison. The Government stated that Hikmet Aksoy was served with the summons for the hearing to take place before the delegates on 20 November 1996 but that he refused to sign the acknowledgment of service and was released from prison on 18 November 1996. The Government failed to provide the Commission with any explanation as to the timing and reason for his release. Aydın Tekin had informed the Commission by letter that he had no direct or indirect knowledge of the incident and that he did not consider himself obliged to attend. At the hearing in July 1996, the Government Agent explained to the delegates that they were unable to require public prosecutors to attend, nor could they oblige a senior officer such as Eşref Hatipoğlu to attend either. The Commission made a finding in its report (at paragraph 245) that the Government had fallen short of their obligations under former Article 28 § 1 (a) of the Convention to furnish all the necessary facilities to the Commission in its task of establishing the facts. It referred to (i) the Government’s failure to provide the Commission’s delegates with the opportunity to view original custody records (see paragraph 24 above); (ii) the Government’s failure to facilitate the attendance of the witness Hikmet Aksoy; (iii) the Government’s failure to secure the attendance of the witnesses Aydın Tekin and Eşref Hatipoğlu.