PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 58398/00) 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 Hasan Ceylan (“the applicant”), on 30 March 2000.

The applicant, who had been granted legal aid, was represented by Mr M. A. Kırdök and Mrs M. Kırdök, lawyers practising in İstanbul. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) did not designate an Agent for the purposes of the proceedings before the Court.

On 19 May 2005 the Court decided to communicate the application to the Government. Under the provisions of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility.

The applicant and the Government each filed observations on the merits.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1964 and lives in İstanbul.

On 9 October 1994 the applicant was arrested and taken into police custody by police officers from the Anti-terror branch of the İstanbul Security Directorate on suspicion of membership of an illegal organisation, namely the TKP-ML/TIKKO0.

On 21 October 1994 the applicant was brought before a judge at the İstanbul State Security Court who ordered his remand in custody.

On 18 November 1994 the public prosecutor at the İstanbul State Security Court filed a bill of indictment against the applicant, together with ten other suspects, accusing him of membership of an illegal organisation. He requested that the applicant be convicted and sentenced under Article 168 § 2 of the Criminal Code and Article 5 of Law no. 3713.

On 7 December 1994 the criminal proceedings against the applicant commenced before the İstanbul State Security Court.

At the end of the hearings held on 1 February and 24 March 1995, the first-instance court ordered that the applicant’s detention pending trial be continued having regard to the nature of the offence that he was charged with, the state of the evidence, the date of the detention on remand decision and of the fact that he had not been heard before the court.

On 15 May 1995 the applicant made statements before the İstanbul State Security Court and denied the charges against him. He contended that he was not a member of an illegal organisation. At the end of the hearing, the court decided that his detention pending trial should be continued having regard to the nature of the offence that he was charged with, the state of the evidence and the date of the decision to remand him in custody.

On 30 June 1995 the applicant’s representative requested the İstanbul State Security Court to release the applicant pending trial. She contended that a third person, K.T., had left a briefcase containing illegal documents in the applicant’s house and that he had been arrested and prosecuted because of these documents. In this connection, the lawyer maintained that the charges brought against the applicant under Article 168 § 2 of the Criminal Code were erroneous and that the applicant could only be charged, under Article 169 of the Criminal Code, with aiding and abetting members of an illegal organisation. The applicant’s lawyer finally claimed that the acts of the applicant could not be considered to constitute an offence under Article 169 of the Criminal Code and that he should be released, since the length of his remand in custody was excessive. The İstanbul State Security Court dismissed the request.

Between 30 June 1995 and 7 February 1997 the first-instance court held twelve more hearings. Throughout these hearings, the applicant and his representative made written and oral submissions and requested that the applicant be released pending trial. They reiterated their submissions of 30 June 1995. The İstanbul State Security Court dismissed the requests on all occasions and held that the applicant’s detention pending trial should continue having regard to the nature of the offence that he was charged with, the state of the evidence and the date of the detention on remand decision.

On 7 February 1997, upon the request of the public prosecutor, the İstanbul State Security Court ordered the applicant and four of his co‑accused to make additional defence submissions in view of the possibility of the application of Article 168 § 1 of the Criminal Code, instead of Article 168 § 2, in the verdict. At the end of the hearing, the court once again dismissed the applicant’s request for release pending trial.

On 28 March 1997 the applicant made his additional defence submissions before the İstanbul State Security Court. On the same day, the court once more dismissed the applicant’s request to be released pending trial.

Until 24 December 1999 the İstanbul State Security Court held sixteen more hearings. At the end of every hearing, the court ordered the applicant’s continued remand in custody taking into consideration the nature of the offence that he was charged with, the state of the evidence, the content of the case-file and the length of detention on remand.

On 24 December 1999 the İstanbul State Security Court convicted the applicant of aiding and abetting members of an illegal organisation under Article 169 of the Criminal Code and Article 5 of Law no. 3713. The court held that there was insufficient evidence to convict the applicant of membership of the TKP‑ML/TIKKO. The court sentenced the applicant to five years’ imprisonment and ordered his release from detention in view of the length of his remand in custody.