GÜLEÇ JUDGMENT OF 27 JULY 1998 3 AS TO THE FACTS I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE A. Background to the case 7. On 4 March 1991 there were a number of incidents such as spontaneous unauthorised demonstrations, shop closures and attacks on public buildings in the town of İdil in Şırnak Province. Two people were killed – one of whom was Ahmet Güleç, aged 15, a pupil at İdil Senior High School and the applicant’s son – and twelve others were wounded. 8. The owners of thirteen rifles confiscated after the incidents, spent cartridges from which had been collected by the security forces, were prosecuted in the Diyarbakır National Security Court, but acquitted because they had proved that they had not taken part in the events concerned. 9. According to the Government, Ahmet Güleç was hit by a bullet fired by armed demonstrators at the gendarmes. According to the applicant, his son was killed by the security forces, who fired on the unarmed demonstrators to make them disperse. 10. On 5 April 1991 the applicant filed a criminal complaint with the İdil public prosecutor’s office against a person or persons unknown and against the commander of the security forces, Major Mustafa Karatan. 11. On 19 April 1991 the public prosecutor’s office, after noting that the criminal complaint was directed against Major Karatan, declared that it had no jurisdiction to deal with it and transferred the case file to Şırnak Provincial Administrative Council for a preliminary investigation. On 18 October 1991 Şırnak Provincial Administrative Council halted the proceedings by means of a discontinuation order which was never served on the applicant’s lawyer. It found that the victim had died of bullet wounds received in the course of a confrontation between the demonstrators and the security forces. However, it found that it was impossible to identify those responsible. 12. On 13 November 1991 the Supreme Administrative Court, to which the case had been automatically referred by law, upheld the above decision, holding that it was impossible to bring a prosecution against civil servants where the identity of those responsible and their status as civil servants had not been established.