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STRASBOURG, July 15 (AFP) - 17h46 - The European
Court of Human Rights Friday condemned Turkey for
its failure to carry out an adequate investigation
into the murder of a Kurd believed to be close to
the rebel separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The case was brought by the widow of Halis Kacar,
gunned down in 1994 as he was leaving his house in
the city of Diyarbakir in the largely Kurdish
southeast of the country.
Fatma Kacar claimed he had been the victim of an
extrajudicial execution while the state said he had
been killed in a dispute between extremists.
The court found that "in the light of the material
before it, (it) considered that the allegation that
Halis Kacar had been killed by or with the
complicity of state agents was based more on
conjecture and speculation than on reliable
evidence.
"In those circumstances, it had not been established
beyond reasonable doubt that Turkeys responsibility
was engaged in the murder of the applicants
husband."
But "the Turkish authorities had failed to conduct
(the inquiry) diligently and... there had been a
number of periods of unexplained inactivity. The
court was also extremely surprised to note that the
public prosecutors office had taken only one
statement."
It added: "Although the authorities had launched an
investigation, not all the suspects had been traced.
The criminal proceedings that had been instituted
against those suspects who had been found were still
pending at first instance some 10 years later,
without any explanation from the government."
It found that Turkey had violated two articles of
the European convention on human rights and awarded
Fatma Kacar 10,000 euros (12,000 dollars).
AFP
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