KURT JUDGMENT OF 25 MAY 1998 13 49. It was also established that when the villagers were gathered in the schoolyard by the security forces on the morning of 24 November 1993, Üzeyir Kurt was not among them. 50. While Hasan Kılıç maintained that Üzeyir Kurt had left with his mother on the morning of 25 November having spent the night at his house, the applicant had however consistently stated that her son was with the soldiers after the villagers had been gathered during the day in the schoolyard. The last time she saw him was when she brought him cigarettes and clothing at Hasan Kılıç’s house where he was being held by the security forces. Her account was largely consistent with her original statement of 24 December 1993 taken by the Diyarbakır Human Rights Association and with her statements and evidence thereafter. While the statement to the Diyarbakır Human Rights Association needed to be treated with caution, having regard to previous criticism which the Commission had made of the accuracy of the statements taken by that association from applicants in other cases, the Commission nonetheless considered that it had evidential value in so far as it was corroborated by the applicant’s detailed account to the delegates. While the statement of Hasan Kılıç appeared to contradict the applicant’s account that her son was detained as alleged, the Commission found that it did contain inaccuracies and was open to differing interpretations. The Commission regretted that Hasan Kılıç did not respond to the summons to attend the hearing and give evidence. Where his written statement appeared to conflict with the account of the applicant who did give oral evidence before the delegates, the Commission preferred the evidence of the applicant, who was found by the delegates to be credible and convincing. 51. The Commission did not consider that the Government’s criticism of the applicant’s account sufficed to undermine her credibility (see paragraphs 30–32 above). As regards her initial allegation that the villagers were blindfolded, it was possible that this was a reference to the twelve persons who were removed from the schoolyard and taken into custody for questioning in Bismil (see paragraph 47 above). As to the applicant’s account of finding cigarettes and a jacket, the Commission saw no particular significance in her omission to specify where she obtained the jacket: the question was never directly put to her. Further, there was nothing in the gendarmes’ testimony to indicate that villagers were not able, if they wished, to move freely from house to house in the period in the early morning before they were gathered for the day in the schoolyard. 52. It had been maintained that the village guards had all been positioned outside the village to mind the military’s vehicles and their members could not therefore have been outside Hasan Kılıç’s house as alleged by the applicant. However, the Commission did not find it excluded