ERGI JUDGMENT OF 28 JULY 1998 4 north-west and south of the village near the asphalt road. The security forces opened fire. The shooting lasted for about one hour and consisted of indiscriminate bombardment of civilian houses. It led to the death of the applicant’s sister, Havva. No members of the PKK were killed or captured. 11. The applicant’s house was in the middle of the village. At the time of the incident, his father and his sister Havva were sleeping on the balcony, on the upper part of the house. As soon as the firing started, Havva and his father took shelter inside the house, but Havva went out on the veranda to collect something. She was hit in the head by a bullet when she was on the threshold and died immediately. 12. On the following morning, the applicant’s uncle Hasan Ergi informed the Ergani gendarmerie commander, possibly by telephone, that the applicant’s sister had been killed. The commander was surprised to learn that only one person had died and stated that he expected at least twenty people to have died. The applicant’s uncle told the commander that he would apply to the public prosecutor. However, the commander told him to go home and said that he would himself inform the public prosecutor. 13. Towards noon, the public prosecutor, a doctor and some soldiers came to the applicant’s house and an autopsy was carried out. While the autopsy was being undertaken inside the applicant’s house, the applicant’s brother, Seyit Battal Ergi, asked the soldiers why his family were being persecuted in this way. A non-commissioned officer replied that, if the villagers accepted to become village guards, the persecution would stop and the reason why they shot at the village was that they saw terrorists at its entrance and that the indiscriminate firing at the entire village was to be explained by the clumsiness of the troops. The doctor, after completing the autopsy, said nothing except to present his condolences. He also issued a burial certificate. The applicant and his family were not asked by the public prosecutor about their version of the circumstances of the shooting. The gendarmerie officer İsa Gündoğdu, drew up the incident report without interviewing or seeking any statements from the villagers or members of the commando unit involved. No cartridges were found by the gendarmes in the area in which the PKK were said to be located during the incident. There is no evidence that the PKK were in fact present in the vicinity during the incident. 14. The bullet which killed the applicant’s sister was described in the ballistics report as a standard NATO 7.62 which was used by the Turkish security forces as well as by many other forces. The shot could not have been fired from the east since it would have been blocked by the walls of