4.  The applicants were born in 1961 and 1967 respectively and live in Mersin and Diyarbakır. 5.  The applicants were civil servants for tax offices attached to the Ministry of Finance in Mersin and Diyarbakır. At the material time they were members of the local branch of the trade union Büro Emekçileri, which is affiliated to Trades Union Confederation of Public Employees (Kamu Emekçileri Sendikaları Konfederasyonu-“KESK”). 6.  In March and April 2009, the applicants were informed of the disciplinary investigations that were initiated against them for having participated in a statement to the press organised by the trade union of which they were members and were invited to send their defence submissions. 7.   Subsequently, the disciplinary sanctions of warning and reprimand were imposed on the applicants for their participation in the aforementioned trade union activities under Section 125 of the Law no. 657 on Civil Servants. 8.  The applicants objected to these decisions and requested their annulment. 9.  In May 2009 the Disciplinary Board of the tax offices dismissed the applicants’ objections considering that the contested decisions were in accordance with law and there were no grounds for annulment.