ÇAKICI v. TURKEY JUDGMENT
27
was also no prompt and effective investigation by the authorities into the
family’s claim that Ahmet Çakıcı had been taken into custody, which, in the
applicant’s view, constituted a separate violation of Article 5.
102. The Government, denying that Ahmet Çakıcı was taken into
custody, maintained that the authorities furnished to the applicant all
available information concerning his brother, in particular as regards the
fact that his name did not appear in any custody record. They submitted that
the Commission’s criticism of the custody registers was irrelevant to the
facts of this case and, in any event, disproportionate. They took the view
that it would not be possible to hold persons in detention for the period
alleged without properly recording them in the relevant registers or
instituting the appropriate judicial procedures. They also referred to their
derogation under Article 15, citing the Aksoy case (Aksoy v. Turkey
judgment of 18 December 1996, Reports 1996-VI) in which the Court
acknowledged the existence of a public emergency threatening the life of
the nation as a result of the terrorist threat in south-east Turkey.
103. The Commission, finding that Ahmet Çakıcı had been arbitrarily
deprived of his liberty by the security forces, held that the Government had
not provided a credible or substantiated explanation of what had happened
to him. When examining the safeguards in place to protect a detained person
from involuntary disappearance, it observed that the custody registers for
Lice, Hazro and Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie headquarters disclosed
omissions, irregularities and inconsistencies such that they could no longer
be regarded as reliable or accurate. It was also not satisfied that the
gendarmes were properly aware of, or put into practice, correct and
effective registration procedures.
104. The Court has frequently emphasised the fundamental importance
of the guarantees contained in Article 5 for securing the rights of individuals
in a democracy to be free from arbitrary detention at the hands of the
authorities (see, amongst others, the Kurt judgment cited above, pp. 118485, § 122). In that context, it has repeatedly stressed that any deprivation of
liberty must not only have been effected in conformity with the substantive
and procedural rules of national law but must equally be in keeping with the
very purpose of Article 5, namely to protect the individual from arbitrary
detention (see, amongst other authorities, the Chahal v. the United Kingdom
judgment of 15 November 1996, Reports 1996-V, p. 1864, § 118). To
minimise the risks of arbitrary detention, Article 5 provides a corpus of
substantive rights intended to ensure that the act of deprivation of liberty is
amenable to independent judicial scrutiny and secures the accountability of
the authorities for that measure. As the Court previously held in the Kurt
case (Kurt judgment cited above, p. 1185, § 124), the unacknowledged
detention of an individual is a complete negation of these guarantees and
discloses a most grave violation of Article 5. Given the responsibility of the
authorities to account for individuals under their control, Article 5 requires