Communicated on 16 January 2017
SECOND SECTION
Application no. 32954/12
Nazım KOK
against Turkey
lodged on 30 March 2012
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Nazım Kok, is a Turkish national who was born in 1963 and lives in Mardin.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
At the time of the events giving rise to the present application, the applicant was the head of the district branch of the Democratic People’s Party (Demokratik Halk Partisi) (DEHAP) in Nusaybin, a district of Mardin province, situated on the Turkish-Syrian border.
On 21 August 2005 a Syrian national who was a member of the PKK, an illegal armed organisation, was killed by security forces in Trabzon. The applicant, the deceased person’s father and uncle and a number of other members of the DEHAP in Nusaybin brought the deceased’s body back from Trabzon to Nusaybin in order to hand his corpse over to his family in Syria.
On 28 August 2005 when the DEHAP members brought the body in Nusaybin a crowd gathered in the town centre. The applicant and another member of the DEHAP gave speeches. The deceased person’s body was then taken to Syria.
On 30 and 31 August 2005 the police, a public prosecutor and a judge in Nusaybin took statements from the applicant. He stated that the dead man’s father, who lived in Syria, had requested his help and that was the reason he had gone to Trabzon to recover the body, together with the deceased’s father and uncle. He denied the allegation that he had praised the PKK in his speech. He also told the public prosecutor that he had referred to the dead man as a “martyr” in his speech in order to help the deceased’s family.
On 19 September 2005 the Diyarbakır public prosecutor filed a bill of indictment with the Diyarbakır Assize Court charging the applicant and seven others with disseminating propaganda in favour of the PKK under section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713). The public prosecutor argued that the applicant had committed the offence proscribed by that provision by stating:
“Dear friends, once again Nusaybin, once again revulsion ... We keep receiving martyrs. We keep receiving corpses. As the people of Nusaybin, we have never wished for death and we have always embraced the martyrs. Nusaybin once again embraces a martyr. We will continue embracing them.”
On 3 April 2008 the Diyarbakır Assize Court convicted the applicant under section 7(2) of Law no. 3713 and sentenced him to one year and eight months’ imprisonment. In its judgment, the Assize Court held that the applicant had disseminated propaganda in favour of the PKK by giving a speech in Kurdish and stating that the people of Nusaybin embraced its martyr. The court noted that the crowd had supported the applicant as they had interrupted his speech with slogans and applause.
The applicant appealed.
On 26 November 2011 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of 3 April 2008.
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 10 of the Convention that his conviction and sentence under section 7(2) of Law no. 3713 constituted a violation of his right to freedom of expression.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has there been a violation of the applicant’s right to freedom of expression, protected by Article 10 of the Convention, on account of his conviction under section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713)?
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