SECOND SECTION
Application no. 16624/12
Ziya AYDEMİR and Kenan KARAVİL against Turkey
lodged on 13 February 2012
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicants, Mr Ziya Aydemir and Mr Kenan Karavil, are Turkish nationals, who were born in 1957 and 1981 respectively. Mr Aydemir lives in Diyarbakır. At the time of the application to the Court, Mr Karavil was serving a sentence in Adana prison. They are represented before the Court by Ms S. Aracı Bek and Mr T. Bek, lawyers practising in Adana.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.
A. The circumstances of the case
On 17 August 2006 the Adana public prosecutor filed a bill of indictment with Adana Magistrate’s Court charging the applicants and five other persons with praising an offence and an offender under Article 215 of the Criminal Code. The public prosecutor alleged that the applicants had signed a petition in September 2005 which had been drafted in order to be sent to several institutions and which was entitled “As a person from Kurdistan, I consider and accept “Sayın”[1] Abdullah Öcalan of Kurdistan as the political will. (Ben Bir Kürdistanlı olarak Kürdistanlı Sayın Abdullah Öcalan’ı Bir Siyasi İrade olarak görüyor ve kabul ediyorum.)”
On 19 January 2007 the Magistrate’s Court decided that it lacked jurisdiction in the case due to the possibility of application of section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713) proscribing disseminating propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation. The court then sent the file to Adana Assize Court.
On 24 March 2008 the Adana Assize Court convicted the applicants of disseminating propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation under section 7(2) of Law No. 3713 and sentenced them each to two years’ imprisonment. In its judgment, the first-instance court found it established that the above-mentioned slogan had been prepared for the purpose of making propaganda for the PKK and its leader, Abdullah Öcalan.
On 13 July 2011 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of 24 March 2008.
On 24 August 2011 the Court of Cassation’s judgment reached the first instance court’s registry and the judgment thus became available to the applicant.
B. Relevant domestic law
Article 215 of the Criminal Code read as follows:
“Any person who openly praises an offence or the person committing an offence is punished with imprisonment of up to two years.”
Section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act read, at the relevant time, as follows:
“Anyone who disseminates propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of from one to five years.”
COMPLAINT
The applicants complain under Articles 10 and 11 of the Convention that their conviction and sentencing to two years’ imprisonment for participating in a petition campaign were in violation of their right to freedom of expression and to freedom of assembly.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has there been a violation of the applicants’ right to freedom of expression, contrary to Article 10 of the Convention, on account of their conviction under section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act?
[1]. The word « sayın » is translated as « Esteemed » or « honorable » or « distinguished » in written or spoken language. This term is put before the name of the person concerned as a sign of respect.
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