SECOND SECTION
Application no. 2433/12
Ali Haydar VARHAN against Turkey
lodged on 22 November 2011
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Ali Haydar Varhan, is a Turkish national, who was born in 1985 and lives in Adıyaman. He is represented before the Court by Mr F. Temel, a lawyer practising in Adıyaman.
A. The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On an unspecified date the applicant and twenty-one other persons were charged by the Malatya public prosecutor with disseminating propaganda in favour of the PKK, an illegal organisation. The public prosecutor claimed that the applicant and his co-accused had committed the offence in question by way of attending a demonstration in favour of the PKK and carrying a flag consisting of the colours of green, yellow and red on 21 March 2007.
On 6 March 2008 the Malatya Assize Court convicted the applicant and sentenced him to ten months imprisonment under section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713). The court held that the applicant had waved a green-yellow-red flag, which represented the PKK, and therefore committed the offence in issue.
On 31 May 2011 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of 6 March 2008.
B. Relevant domestic law
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 applicant complains under Article 10 of the Convention that his conviction for carrying a flag attributed to the PKK was in violation of his freedom of expression.
ITMarkFactsComplaintsEND
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?
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