SECOND SECTION
Application no. 57509/11
Mehmet UŞAR
against Turkey
lodged on 22 June 2011
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Mehmet Uşar, is a Turkish national, who was born in 1980 and lives in Van. He is represented before the Court by Mr Ö. Kılıç, a lawyer practising in Istanbul.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 19 February 2005 the applicant read a press statement on behalf of a number of non-governmental organisations and the DEHAP (Democratic People’s Party) in Kars. The press statement at issue condemned the shooting and killing of a number of persons by the police, in particular of a person during a demonstration held in Mersin on 15 February 2005. The press statement referred to the date 15 February 2005 as “the anniversary of the arrest of Abdullah Öcalan, the Kurdish people’s leader”.
On an unspecified date the Kars public prosecutor initiated an investigation into the applicant.
On 4 March 2005 the applicant made statements to the public prosecutor and maintained that he had solely read the press statement and that he had not committed any offence.
On the same day the applicant made statements before the Kars Magistrate’s Court. The court ordered the applicant’s detention on remand.
The applicant was released on 8 March 2005.
On 18 March 2005 the Kars public prosecutor filed an indictment with the Erzurum Assize Court against sixteen persons, including the applicant. The accused were those who were present during the reading of the press statement and were charged with disseminating propaganda in favour of the PKK, an illegal organisation, under section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713). The public prosecutor alleged that the accused had commited the offence proscribed by section 7(2) of Law no. 3713 by way of including phrases such as “Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdish people” in the press statement and by chanting slogans such as “hands who shot Uğur should be broken”. “Police are Murderer State”.
On 20 December 2005 the Erzurum Assize Court convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 500 Turkish liras. The court acquitted the other accused.
On 22 March 2007 the Court of Cassation quashed the judgment against the applicant on procedural grounds.
On 23 August 2007 the Erzurum Assize Court once again convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to one year’s imprisonment. The court concluded that the applicant had committed the offence at issue since he had qualified Abdullah Öcalan as the leader of the Kurdish people.
On 3 February 2011 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of 23 August 2007.
In 2012 the applicant served his prison sentence.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains under Article 6 of the Convention that the trial court erroneously assessed the applicant’s act as an offence and that he had to serve a prison sentence as a result of the court’s failure to commute the sentence to another measure and to suspend its execution.
The applicant further complains under Articles 10 and 11 of the Convention that his detention on remand for four days as well as his conviction was in violation of his rights to freedom of expression and to freedom of assembly.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has there been a violation of the applicant’s right to freedom of expression, contrary to 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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