CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 22 juin 2004

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s5FFF0A77 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:1pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s33165EBA { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s6B505E72 { margin:0pt; padding-left:0pt } .s1C7BEF1E { margin-left:28.52pt; padding-left:7.48pt; font-family:serif } .s20528552 { font-family:Arial; font-size:13.5pt } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .s9F8EB0C0 { width:18.63pt; display:inline-block } .s9E97F54A { width:85.05pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 }   EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS 308 22.6.2004 Press release issued by the Registrar   CHAMBER JUDGMENT AZIZ v. CYPRUS   The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing a judgment [1] in the case of Aziz v. Cyprus (application no. 69949/01).   The Court held unanimously that: there had been a violation of Article   3 of Protocol No. 1 (right to free elections) to the European Convention on Human Rights; there had been a violation of Article   14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the Convention;   the finding of those violations constituted in itself sufficient just satisfaction for the non-pecuniary damage sustained by the applicant.   Under Article 41 (just satisfaction) of the Convention, the Court awarded the applicant 3,500   euros   (EUR) for costs and expenses. (The judgment is available only in English.)     1.     Principal facts   The applicant, Ibrahim Aziz, is a Cypriot national of Turkish origin who was born in 1938 and lives in Nicosia.   On 30 January 2001 he applied to the Minister of the Interior, asking to be registered on the electoral roll in order to vote in the parliamentary elections of 27 May 2001.   His request was refused on 8 February 2001 on the ground that, under Article 63 of the Constitution, members of the Turkish-Cypriot community could not be registered in the Greek-Cypriot electoral roll. The applicant was also informed that the matter was under consideration by the Attorney-General of the Republic and that he would be informed of any developments.   On 27 April 2001 the applicant lodged an application with the Supreme Court against the decision of the Ministry of the Interior. He relied on Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and submitted that, following the dissolution of the Communal Chambers, the Cypriot Government had failed to set up two electoral lists in order to protect the electoral rights of members of both communities. On 23 May 2001 the Supreme Court dismissed the application, holding that Article 63 of the Cypriot Constitution and Article 5 of Law No. 72/79 (relating to the election of members of parliament) did not provide for members of the Turkish-Cypriot community living in the Government-controlled part of Cyprus to be included in the Greek-Cypriot electoral list and consequently, vote in parliamentary elections. The court stated that it did not have the competence to reform the Constitution, which provides for the compilation of separate electoral lists and for separate elections of the representatives of each community, as this would be contrary to the principle of the separation of powers.   2.     Procedure and composition of the Court   The application was lodged on 25 May 2001. On 8 April 2003, the Court declared the case partly admissible.   Judgment was given by a Chamber of seven judges, composed as follows:   Jean-Paul Costa (French), President , András Baka (Hungarian), Loukis Loucaides (Cypriot), Corneliu Bîrsan (Romanian), Karel Jungwiert (Czech), Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian), Antonella Mularoni (San Marinese), judges , and also Lawrence Early , Deputy Section Registrar .     3.     Summary of the judgment [2]   Complaints The applicant complained that he was refused permission to be registered on the electoral roll, in order to vote in the parliamentary elections of 27 May 2001, because he was a member of the Turkish-Cypriot community. He relied on Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (right to free elections) and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the Convention.   Decision of the Court   Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 The Court recalled that Article 63 of the Cypriot Constitution, which entered into force in August 1960, provided for separate electoral lists for the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities. Nonetheless, the participation of Turkish-Cypriot members of parliament was suspended from 1963, from which time the relevant articles of the Constitution providing for the parliamentary representation of the Turkish-Cypriot community and the quotas to be adhered to by the two communities became impossible to implement in practice.   The Court noted that States which had ratified the European Convention on Human Rights enjoyed considerable latitude in establishing rules within their constitutional order governing parliamentary elections and the composition of their parliaments; the relevant criteria might vary according to the historical and political factors peculiar to each State. However, those rules should not be such as to exclude certain people or groups of people from participating in the political life of the country and, in particular, in the choice of the legislature, a right guaranteed by both the European Convention on Human Rights and the Constitutions of all Contracting States.   The Court noted that the situation in Cyprus deteriorated following the occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkish troops and had continued to do so for the last 30 years. It further observed that, despite the fact that the relevant constitutional provisions had been rendered ineffective, there was a notable lack of legislation to resolve the resulting problems. Consequently, the applicant, as a member of the Turkish ‑ Cypriot community living in the Government-controlled area of Cyprus, was completely deprived of any opportunity to express his opinion in the choice of the members of the house of representatives of the country of which he was a national and where he had always lived.   Considering that the very essence of the applicant’s right to vote, as guaranteed by Article 3 of Protocol No. 1, had been denied, the Court held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 3 of Protocol No. 1.   Article 14 The Court noted that the applicant was a Cypriot national, resident in the Government-controlled area of Cyprus. It observed that the difference in treatment of which the applicant complained resulted from the fact that he was a Turkish Cypriot; it emanated from the constitutional provisions regulating the voting rights of members of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities that had become impossible to implement in practice.   The Court considered that this difference could not be justified on reasonable and objective grounds, particularly in the light of the fact that Turkish Cypriots in the applicant’s situation were prevented from voting at any parliamentary election.   The Court therefore concluded that there was a clear inequality of treatment in the enjoyment of the right in question, which had to be considered a fundamental aspect of the case. There had accordingly been a violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No.   1.   *** The Court’s judgments are accessible on its Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Press contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1 November 1998 it has sat as a full-time Court composed of an equal number of judges to that of the States party to the Convention. The Court examines the admissibility and merits of applications submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in exceptional cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Court’s judgments. [1] Under Article 43 of the European Convention on Human Rights, within three months from the date of a Chamber judgment, any party to the case may, in exceptional cases, request that the case be referred to the 17 ‑ member Grand Chamber of the Court. In that event, a panel of five judges considers whether the case raises a serious question affecting the interpretation or application of the Convention or its protocols, or a serious issue of general importance, in which case the Grand Chamber will deliver a final judgment. If no such question or issue arises, the panel will reject the request, at which point the judgment becomes final. Otherwise Chamber judgments become final on the expiry of the three-month period or earlier if the parties declare that they do not intend to make a request to refer. [2] This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.