Published on 26 July 2021
SECOND SECTION
Application no. 11343/16
Kasım KAPLAN
against Turkey
lodged on 28 January 2016
communicated on 8 July 2021
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the alleged unfairness of the criminal proceedings against the applicant owing to the domestic courts’ alleged failure to give sufficient reasons for his conviction under Article 314 § 2 of the Criminal Code, on the basis of Articles 220 § 6 and 314 § 3 of the same Code for committing an offence on behalf of an armed terrorist organisation, namely PKK (see, mutatis mutandis, Işıkırık v. Turkey, no. 41226/09, 14 November 2017).
The applicant was found guilty of participating in a demonstration as a result of a call made by the PKK and of throwing stones at the police and the buildings during that demonstration. On that basis, the trial court convicted him, inter alia, of membership of an illegal organisation as he was considered to have committed a crime on behalf of an illegal organisation under Article 314 § 2 of the Criminal Code on the basis of Articles 220 § 6 and 314 § 3 of the same Code.
The applicant complains of a breach of his right to a reasoned judgment under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, arguing that the domestic courts did not explain the causal link between him and the calls made by the websites close to the PKK calling for people to join certain demonstrations, which formed the basis of their conclusion that he had acted on behalf of that armed terrorist organisation.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has the applicant exhausted all effective domestic remedies, as required by Article 35 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, did the applicant invoke before the national authorities, at least in substance, the right to a reasoned judgment on which he now wishes to rely before the Court?
2. Did the applicant have a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charge against him, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, did the domestic courts provide sufficient reasons for the applicant’s conviction for committing an offence on behalf an armed terrorist organisation (under Article 314 § 2 of the Criminal Code on the basis of Articles 220 § 6 and 314 § 3 of the same Code)?
The Government are invited to submit copies of all the relevant documents concerning the applicant’s case, including but not limited to the minutes of all the hearings, statements of the applicant, the evidence against him, and the written submissions of the applicant and his lawyer throughout the proceedings. The Government are further invited to submit the translation of the relevant pages of the domestic court’s reasoned judgment dated 11 April 2013.
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