14
İLHAN v. TURKEY JUDGMENT
54. The Court is not persuaded, however, that in this case the fact that
Nasır İlhan put his own name as that of the applicant rather than that of his
brother discloses an abuse of the Convention system. Abdüllatif İlhan
consented to the proceedings and appeared before the Commission
delegates to give evidence. Nor was there any apparent conflict of interest
arising from the applicant's involvement on behalf of his brother. Indeed,
the applicant may claim to have been closely concerned with the incident.
He was the member of the family who came immediately to the hospital on
learning of his brother's injury and who took the necessary steps for
obtaining the treatment he needed. While the Government asserted that
Abdüllatif İlhan's state of health did not preclude him from conducting his
own legal affairs, the Court considers that special considerations may arise
where a victim of an alleged violation of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention
at the hands of the security forces is still suffering from serious after-effects.
55. Having regard therefore to the special circumstances of this case,
where Abdüllatif İlhan may claim to have been in a particularly vulnerable
position, the Court finds that the applicant may be regarded as having
validly introduced the application on his brother's behalf. Accordingly, it
dismisses the Government's preliminary objection in this respect.
B. Exhaustion of domestic remedies
56. The Government objected that the applicant had not exhausted
domestic remedies, as required by Article 35 of the Convention, by making
proper use of the available redress through the instituting of criminal
proceedings, or by bringing claims in the civil or administrative courts.
They referred in particular to the fact that neither Abdüllatif İlhan nor the
applicant complained to the public prosecutor and that Abdüllatif İlhan
made no complaint when he appeared before the Mardin Justice of the
Peace Court on 30 March 1993.
57. The applicant's counsel submitted at the hearing before the Court
that the Mardin public prosecutor had been informed that both Abdüllatif
İlhan and İbrahim Karahan had been injured when the gendarmes
apprehended them. The public prosecutor had informed the Commission's
delegates that he had been concerned that Abdüllatif İlhan had suffered such
serious injuries. His decision not to prosecute of 11 February 1993 also
described Abdüllatif İlhan as the injured party.
58. The Court reiterates that the rule of exhaustion of domestic remedies
referred to in Article 35 § 1 of the Convention obliges applicants to use first
the remedies that are normally available and sufficient in the domestic legal
system to enable them to obtain redress for the breaches alleged. The
existence of the remedies must be sufficiently certain, in practice as well as
in theory, failing which they will lack the requisite accessibility and
effectiveness. Article 35 § 1 also requires that the complaints intended to be