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MAMATKULOV AND ASKAROV v. TURKEY JUDGMENT
3. The Chamber may request information from the parties on any matter connected
with the implementation of any interim measure it has indicated.”
A. The Chamber judgment
93. In its judgment of 6 February 2003, the Chamber found as follows:
“110. ... any State Party to the Convention to which interim measures have been
indicated in order to avoid irreparable harm being caused to the victim of an alleged
violation must comply with those measures and refrain from any act or omission that
will undermine the authority and effectiveness of the final judgment.
111. Consequently, by failing to comply with the interim measures indicated by the
Court under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, Turkey is in breach of its obligations under
Article 34 of the Convention.”
B. The parties' submissions
1. The applicants
94. The applicants' representatives stated that, despite requests to the
authorities, they had been unable to contact their clients following the
latter's extradition. The applicants had consequently been deprived of the
possibility of having further inquiries made in order to obtain evidence in
support of their allegations under Article 3. The applicants' extradition had
thus proved a real obstacle to the effective presentation of their application
to the Court.
2. The Government
95. The Government submitted that no separate issue arose under
Article 34 of the Convention, as the complaint under that provision was the
same as the one that the applicants had raised under Article 3 of the
Convention, which the Government said was unfounded.
96. As regards the effects of the interim measures the Court had
indicated in the instant case under Rule 39, the Government referred to Cruz
Varas and Others, cited above, as authority for the proposition that the
Contracting States had no legal obligation to comply with such indications.
97. In the Government's submission, it was clear from the very terms of
the letter indicating the interim measure in the instant case that the measure
was not intended to be binding. International courts operated within the
scope of the powers conferred upon them by international treaties. If the
treaty did not grant them power to order binding interim measures, then no
such power existed.
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