PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 9984/03) against the Republic of Turkey lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Turkish national, Mr Yaşar Kanbur (“the applicant”), on 4 February 2003.

The applicant was represented by Mr Ö. Kavili, a lawyer practising in Istanbul. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.

On 14 February 2006 the Court declared the application partly inadmissible and decided to communicate the complaint concerning the length of the proceedings to the Government. It also decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time (Article 29 § 3).

THE FACTS

THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1960 and lives in Istanbul.

On 30 October 2001 the Court found that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, following an application lodged by the applicant on 21 July 1995 (Kanbur v. Turkey, no. 28291/95) concerning the length of criminal proceedings brought against him for his membership of Dev-Yol (Revolutionary Way). By then the proceedings had lasted for over nineteen years. The Court awarded the applicant 100,000 French francs (approximately 15,000 euros) in compensation.

At the time of the Court’s judgment, the criminal proceedings against the applicant were still pending before the Ankara Assize Court.

The facts of the case thereafter, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.

On 14 May 2002 the applicant attended a hearing before the Ankara Assize Court, gave a statement and submitted the Court’s judgment of 30 October 2001 in order to ensure that his case would be heard within a reasonable time.

On 16 July 2002 the Assize Court sentenced the applicant to death, and then commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. The judgment was subject to appeal.

In the meantime in October 2001, Article 38 of the Constitution was amended so that the death penalty could no longer be ordered or implemented other than in time of war or of imminent threat of war, or for acts of terrorism. Subsequently, by Law no. 4771, which was published on 9 August 2002, the Turkish Grand National Assembly resolved, inter alia, to abolish the death penalty in peacetime.

On 28 May 2004 the Court of Cassation quashed the judgment of the first-instance court on the ground that the death penalty had been abolished during the course of the proceedings.

On 23 December 2004 the Ankara Assize Court resumed the trial. On that day it ordered, in absentia, the provisional detention of the applicant in order to secure a statement from him.

On 27 December 2004 the Ankara Assize Court heard a statement from the applicant as regards the state of the case and revoked the detention order as having served its purpose. Subsequently, the Ankara Assize Court held thirteen more hearings.

On 3 October 2006, at its fourteenth hearing, the Ankara Assize Court delivered its judgment and sentenced the applicant to life imprisonment pursuant to Article 146 of the Criminal Code.

According to the information made available to the Court by the parties to date, the case is apparently still pending before the Court of Cassation.