Hasan Ocak
person- Image
- Sex
- Male
- Civil status
- Single
- Date body found
- May 15, 1995
- Occupation
- Teacher
- Event description
Per ruling delivered by the ECHR on 15th October 2004, thirty-year-old Hasan Ocak had moved from his native Dersim to İstanbul with his family. On 21st March 1995, a few days after the end of the massive conflict (Gazi Quarter Riots) between security forces and crowds protesting an armed attack on an Alevi coffeehouse, Hasan Ocak disappeared.
On 15th May, through their own efforts, the family found that Hasan Ocak’s dead body, showing signs of heavy torture, had been found on 26th March but buried in a pauper’s grave.
As the investigation initiated in Turkey changed hands between prosecutor’s offices, his family applied to the ECHR in 1996; which ruled in 2004 that Turkey had violated article 2 of the Convention by failing to conduct an effective investigation.
As of 2016, the investigation is on-going under the jurisdiction of the Beykoz Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
- Geolocation
Latitude: 41.00823760000001
Longitude: 28.9783589
- Geolocation
- City
- İstanbul
- Date of disappearance
- Mar 21, 1995
- Year of disappearance
- 1995
- Age at the time of disappearance
- Yaş:29Ay:12Gün:8
- Status of the victim
- Discovered dead and returned to the family
- Type of source material
- ECHR decision
- Press release or report of human rights organisations
- Printed or online news
- Statement by victim/complainant
- Decision by the prosecution office
- Investigation continues
- Verdict of ECHR
- Violation of the right(s)
- Articles violated according to ECHR verdict
- Article 2: Procedural violation of the right to life
- Summary of the legal proceedings
Per ruling delivered by the ECHR on 15th October 2004, the family of Hasan Ocak, who had disappeared on 21st March 1995 in İstanbul and was buried in a pauper’s grave by authorities after the discovery of his dead body, applied to the prosecutor’s office shortly after his disappearance.
As the investigation initiated in Turkey changed hands between prosecutor’s offices, his family applied to the ECHR in 1996; which ruled in 2004 that Turkey had violated article 2 of the Convention by failing to conduct an effective investigation.
In October 2016, the Beykoz Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office closed the investigation citing statute of limitations. The family’s appeal to a higher court was accepted and the investigation is on-going under the jurisdiction of the Beykoz Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.