5.  On 6 March 2006 the applicants were taken into police custody on suspicion of aiding and abetting the MLKP (Marxist-Leninist Communist Party), an illegal armed organisation. 6.  On 7 March 2006 the applicants were brought before a judge at the Ankara Assize Court. They were mainly questioned about their participation in a number of demonstrations and about various CDs, documents, books and periodicals that had allegedly been found by the police in their homes. The applicants denied the veracity of the allegations that they had acted in support of an illegal organisation. In particular, although they all accepted that they had participated in legally organised demonstrations, they denied having chanted illegal slogans or slogans in favour of an illegal organisation. They also claimed that the material found in their homes had not been illegal. In particular, Necla Çomak claimed that the documents found in her home were related to a legal association, namely the Working Women’s Association (Emekçi Kadınlar Derneği). 7.  On the same day the Ankara Assize Court ordered the detention of Levent Çakır, Deniz Bakır, Alihan Alhan, Necla Çomak, Metin Kürekçi, Latife Canan Kaplan and Uğur Güdük. The other applicants were released. 8.  On 22 March 2006 the Ankara public prosecutor filed an indictment with the Ankara Assize Court against the applicants. In the indictment, the public prosecutor noted that the applicants had participated in two demonstrations organised by trade unions and non-governmental organisations held on 17 December 2005 and 19 February 2006 with the authorisation of the governor’s office. He further noted, on the basis of video footage provided by the police, that the applicants had carried banners on behalf of the ESP (the Socialist Platform of the Oppressed) and the SGD (Socialist Youth Association), which, according to information on the Internet, were connected to the MLKP. The applicants were charged with membership of an illegal organisation under Article 220 § 7 and Article 314 of the Criminal Code. 9.  On 18 May 2006 the Ankara Assize Court held the first hearing in the case. The applicants conceded before the court that they had participated in the demonstrations of 17 December 2005 and 19 February 2006 but stressed that those demonstrations had been legal. As to the documents, periodicals, books and CDs found in their homes, the applicants maintained that none of the material they had had was illegal, and that they did not accept the content of the search-and-seizure reports prepared after the searches conducted in their homes, as those reports had not been drafted in their presence. 10.   During the hearing held on 22 June 2006, Latife Canan Kaplan, Uğur Güdük and Levent Çakır were released pending trial. 11.  Between 18 May 2006 and 17 January 2007 the Ankara Assize Court held nine hearings. 12.  On 17 January 2007 the Assize Court convicted Deniz Bakır, Metin Kürekçi, Necla Çomak and Alihan Alhan of membership of a terrorist organisation under Article 314 § 2 of the Criminal Code, on the basis of Articles 220 § 7 and 314 § 3 of the same Code. Metin Kürekçi, Necla Çomak and Alihan Alhan were sentenced to six years and three months’ imprisonment. Deniz Bakır was sentenced to seven years and six months’ imprisonment. The rest of the applicants were convicted of disseminating propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation under section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713) and sentenced to one year and eight months’ imprisonment each. 13.  On 27 September 2007 the Court of Cassation quashed the judgment, holding that the applicants had not had an opportunity to submit their defence submissions in relation to the classification by the Assize Court of their acts under section 7(2) of Law no. 3713. 14.  Between 6 February and 22 October 2008 the Ankara Assize Court held seven more hearings. On 22 October 2008 the court issued a judgment containing the same conclusions and sentences as in its judgment of 17 January 2007. It also ordered the release of Metin Kürekçi, Necla Çomak and Alihan Alhan, taking into account the period of time that they had spent in detention and the length of the sentences imposed on them.
15  In its judgment, the Assize Court noted that although the ESP and the SGD were legal entities, their activities were in line with those of the MLKP. The court observed that members of the ESP and SGD regarded members of the MLKP who had been killed by the security forces or during hunger strikes as “martyrs” and that they had organised commemorative ceremonies for them. The court further observed that the declarations issued by the MLKP on the Internet were consistent with the aims of the ESP and the SGD. The court hence considered that the ESP and the SGD appeared in the legal domain on behalf of the MLKP and had an organic relationship with it. The court found it established, on the basis of the conduct of members of the ESP and the SGD and having regard to the documents found in the accused’s homes, that ESP and SGD members were carrying out activities in line with the strategies of the MLKP and had been holding legally authorised demonstrations in favour of that organisation on the pretext of exercising their democratic rights. 16.  In convicting the applicants, the Ankara Assize Court noted that all the applicants except Selçuk Mart had participated in the demonstration of 17 December 2005. As regards Selçuk Mart, the court observed that he had attended the demonstration of 19 February 2006. The court found it established that the applicants had chanted the following slogans during the demonstration held on 17 December 2005: “M-L-K-P”, “Yaşasın partimiz MLKP” (“Long live our Party, MLKP”), “Devrimin zaferi, biji MLKP” (“Victory to the revolution, long live the MLKP”), “İşçiler partiye, MLKP’ye” (“Workers join the party, join the MLKP”). The court further found it established that Necla Çomak and Uğur Güdük had chanted the slogan “Yaşasın 1. Kürdistan konferansı” (“Long live the first Conference of Kurdistan”). Lastly, the court noted that Selçuk Mart had chanted the slogan “Dısa dısa serhildan MLKP Kürdistan” (“Rise up again and again, MLKP Kurdistan”) during the demonstration of 19 February 2006. 17.  The Assize Court further noted that Metin Kürekçi and Mehmet Ali Tosun had been wearing clothes and carrying pennants with “ESP” on them during the demonstration of 17 December 2005, and that Uğur Güdük and Selçuk Mart had been wearing clothes and hats with “SGD” on them. The first‑instance court also noted that Serdar Kır and Necla Çomak had had red ribbons attached to their arms and that the latter had incited the crowd to chant slogans. The court further found it established that Levent Çakır had given a clenched-fist salute during the demonstration. 18.  The Assize Court also noted that Metin Kürekçi, Alihan Alhan and Deniz Bakır had been taken into police custody in the past on account of their participation in various public meetings. There were also several police records in respect of Necla Çomak. Alihan Alhan and Deniz Bakır had also previously been remanded in custody. The court further noted that books which had previously been the subject of seizure orders had been found in the homes of Metin Kürekçi, Necla Çomak, Filiz Uluçelebi and Mehmet Ali Tosun. Metin Kürekçi had also had written material regarding the ESP and SGD. Necla Çomak had been in possession of notes on the illegal organisation and leaflets which belonged to the ESP. 19.  The Assize Court concluded that Metin Kürekçi, Necla Çomak, Alihan Alhan and Deniz Bakır should be convicted as members of the MLKP because they had aided that illegal organisation. The court found it established that those applicants had directed the crowds, incited people to chant slogans in favour of the MLKP, carried banners, prepared organisational documents and been previously involved in activities in favour of the MLKP. The court considered that those applicants’ acts represented continuity and diversity, and that they had an organic relationship with the MLKP. The court held that the applicants had aided the MLKP by acting and directing other people to act “in a manner planned by” that organisation. It convicted them under Articles 220 § 7 and 314 §§ 2 and 3 of the Criminal Code. 20.  As regards Levent Çakır, Uğur Güdük, Latife Canan Kaplan, Serdar Kır, Selçuk Mart, Mehmet Ali Tosun, Filiz Uluçelebi and Mesut Açıkalın, the Assize Court noted that they had chanted slogans and carried banners and flags in favour of the MLKP during the demonstrations of 17 December 2005 or 19 February 2006 and had been in possession of banned books and documents in favour of that organisation. The court found that those applicants’ acts had constituted propaganda in favour of the MLKP and thereby propaganda inciting people to commit violence or other methods of terrorism. They were therefore convicted pursuant to section 7(2) of Law no. 3713. 22.  On various dates between 10 March 2009 and 12 July 2012 all the applicants except Necla Çomak served the prison sentences imposed on them. 24.  On 2 November 2012 the Ankara Assize Court revised its judgment of 22 October 2008 pursuant to Law no. 6352, which had entered into force on 5 July 2012, in respect of Metin Kürekçi, Alihan Alhan, Deniz Bakır, Necla Çomak, Levent Çakır, Serdar Kır, Selçuk Mart and Filiz Uluçelebi. The court decided to reduce the sentences imposed on Metin Kürekçi, Alihan Alhan, Deniz Bakır and Necla Çomak pursuant to Article 314 § 2 of the Criminal Code, on the basis of Articles 220 § 7 and 314 § 3 of the same Code, to two years and one month’s imprisonment. As regards Levent Çakır, Serdar Kır, Selçuk Mart and Filiz Uluçelebi, the Assize Court decided to suspend the execution of the sentences imposed on them under section 7(2) of Law no. 3713, in accordance with provisional section 1 of Law no. 6352. The suspension was for a period of three years, on condition that they did not commit an offence when expressing ideas and opinions through the medium of the press or other media, or by any other means.