The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of the parliamentarians listed above, former members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/179/11(a)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 178th session (May 2006),

Taking account of the letter from the President of the Turkish Inter-Parliamentary Group, dated 12 October 2006, and of information provided by Amnesty International on 12 September 2006,

Recalling that Mr. Sinçar was shot dead by four masked men in September 1993 in Batman where he had gone with a delegation of representatives of his party, the Democracy Party (DEP) to attend the funeral of a member of the DEP bureau; the murder was committed in broad daylight in a place with usually heavy police presence owing to the state of emergency in the region; according to the information provided by the President of the Turkish Inter-Parliamentary Group in March 2005, several persons have been brought to justice in connection with his killing and proceedings are under way; noting, however, that according to his letter of 12 September 2006, a case was filed against 13 suspects on charges of committing a crime against the constitutional order of the State and membership of Hezbollah, an illegal armed organization; the court acquitted them in 1994 for lack of evidence,

Recalling that the other former parliamentarians concerned lost their parliamentary mandates owing to the dissolution of their party by the Constitutional Court in June 1994; that Ms. Zana, Mr. Dicle, Mr. Sadak and Mr. Dogan were found guilty of belonging to an armed organization and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment; in June 2001, the European Court of Human Rights found that their right to fair trial had been violated and afforded them just satisfaction; a retrial took place, which, in mid-2004, the Turkish Court of Cassation held to have been also unfair and ordered their release; a second retrial before Ankara Heavy Penal Court No. 11 started in October 2004 and continues; considering that: (i) according to the President of the Turkish IPU Group, the case file was referred to the public prosecutor for final opinion and that the Court is expected to deliver its final judgement in the coming months; (ii) according to Amnesty International, the second retrial is proceeding unsatisfactorily; at the hearing on 7 July 2006, it was revealed that tapes which allegedly constituted a key part of the evidence against the defendants in the original trial had been destroyed back in 1997 and could not therefore be transcribed; the defendants had requested the examination and transcription of the alleged evidence in their retrial,

Recalling that Mr. Zübeyir Aydar, Mr. Nizamettin Toguç, Mr. Mahmt Kilinç, Mr. Ali Yigit and Mr. Remzi Kartal fled abroad in June 1994 and are now living in exile; and noting that, according to the information provided by the President of the Turkish IPU Group, arrest warrants were issued for them as part of the ongoing legal process due to charges of membership in and participation in the activities of the terrorist organization PKK/KADEK/KONGRA-GEL that are pending against them,

1. Thanks the President of the Turkish Inter-Parliamentary Group for the information he provided;

2. Is alarmed that the third trial of Ms. Zana, Mr. Dicle, Mr. Dogan and Mr. Sadak may again be flawed and once more fail to comply with the fair trial standards by which Turkey, as a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, must abide; stresses that the failure to conduct thorough and impartial retrials after European Court rulings finding Turkey in breach of ECHR fair trial principles is tantamount to total disregard for the Court and its rulings;

3. Calls on theTurkish parliament to look into this matter seriously and would appreciate receiving the observations of the parliamentary authorities in this respect;

4. Notes with deep concern that the killers of Mr. Sinçar have not been identified and recalls that States have a duty to dispense justice by identifying and prosecuting offenders; wishes therefore to ascertain what steps have been taken to ensure that this crime, which occurred in the presence of many witnesses, does not remain unpunished;

5. Would appreciate receiving, if possible, a copy of the indictment against the former parliamentarians concerned who are currently living in exile;

6. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the parliamentary authorities and the sources;

7. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 116th Assembly (April-May 2007).

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* The Turkish delegation took the floor to comment on the resolution. Its observations may be found in the Summary Records of the 179th session of the Governing Council.

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