73_75 personal_scope 75. Turning to the particular circumstances of the case, the Court observes that Erkut Direkçi died on 12 December 1997 and that the present application was lodged with the Court on 27 April 1998 by his father, more than four months after his death. In this connection, the Court recalls that in certain cases where an applicant died during the Strasbourg proceedings, it has taken into account the statements of the applicant’s heirs or close family members who expressed the wish to pursue the case before the Court (see in this respect Karner, cited above, and Dalban v. Romania [GC], no. 28114/95, §39, ECHR 1999-VI). The Court finds, however, that the present application must be distinguished from those cases which were introduced by the applicants themselves and only continued by the relatives after the applicants’ death.