Communicated on 18 January 2017
SECOND SECTION
Application no. 74054/11
Sınan YILDIRIM
against Turkey
lodged on 18 November 2011
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Sinan Yıldırım, is a Turkish national who was born in 1983 and lives in Tunceli. He is represented before the Court by Mr E.E. Şimşek, a lawyer practising in Tunceli.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 5 April 2007 the applicant attended a concert in the meeting hall of the municipality of Hozat in Tunceli province.
On an unspecified date an investigation was initiated against the applicant on account of his attendance at the concert and his actions there. He stated that he had chanted only the slogans “songs and dance shall continue” and “oppression will not discourage us”. He denied that he had chanted any of the other slogans noted in the police report on the examination of the police video recording of the event.
On 17 October 2007 the Malatya public prosecutor filed an indictment with the Malatya Assize Court against the applicant and two other persons, charging them with disseminating propaganda in favour of the DHKP/C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front), an illegal armed organisation under section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713). On the basis of the police report on the examination of the police video recording of the event, the public prosecutor noted that the accused had chanted various slogans (“Mahir, Hüseyin, Ulaş[1] – fight until liberation”, “Martyrs of the revolution are immortal”, “Revolutionary prisoners are our pride”, “Victory in the mountains, liberation at the front”, “Long live victory, long live resistance”). The public prosecutor argued that in so doing the accused had committed the offence proscribed in section 7(2) of Law no. 3713.
On 10 January 2008 the applicant made a statement before the Tunceli Assize Court, to be submitted to the Malatya Assize Court.
On 6 March 2008 the Malatya Assize Court convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to ten months of imprisonment. The Assize Court found it established, on the basis of the police video recording and the report on the examination of the police video recording, that the applicant and his accused had chanted the aforementioned slogans. The court considered that the concert had turned into a meeting in support of the DHKP/C as a result of the speeches made and slogans chanted during the concert and that the accused had committed the offence of disseminating propaganda in favour of the DHKP/C by way of chanting slogans used by that organisation.
The applicant appealed.
On 4 July 2011 the Court of Cassation upheld the Malatya Assize Court’s judgment of 6 March 2008.
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 10 of the Convention that his conviction and sentence constituted a breach 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)?
[1]. Mahir Çayan was one of the founders and Hüseyin Cevahir and Ulaş Bardakçı were members of the THKP/C (People’s Liberation Party-Front of Turkey), an illegal armed organisation founded in 1970. They were killed by security forces on 30 March 1972.
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