PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 16779/02) 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 Mr Abdullah Kalay, on 12 February 2002.

The applicant was represented by Ms F.G.Yolcu and Mr M. Aslan, lawyers practising in Istanbul. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) did not designate an Agent for the purposes of the proceedings before the Court.

The applicant alleged that the period of his detention on remand exceeded a reasonable time requirement of the Convention and that the criminal proceedings brought against him were unreasonably lengthy.

The application was allocated to the Third Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). Within that Section, the Chamber that would consider the case (Article 27 § 1 of the Convention) was constituted as provided in Rule 26 § 1.

On 6 September 2004 the application was communicated to the Government.

The applicant and the Government each filed observations on the merits (Rule 59 § 1).

On 1 November 2004 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1). This case was assigned to the newly composed Third Section (Rule 52 § 1).

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1967 and lives in Izmit.

On 6 November 1992 the applicant was arrested by police officers from the anti-terrorism branch of the Izmit Security Directorate and was placed in custody on suspicion of membership of an illegal armed organisation, namely the TKP-ML/TIKKO (Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, Turkish Workers and Peasants’ Liberation Army).

On 11 November 1992 the applicant was brought before the investigating judge at the Kocaeli Criminal Court. The same day, the investigating judge ordered the applicant’s detention on remand.

On 10 February 1993 the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court filed an indictment with the same court accusing the applicant and his seven other co-defendants of being a member of an illegal armed organisation and having committed armed robbery. The public prosecutor invoked Articles 168 § 2 and 497 § 2 of the Criminal Code and Article 5 of Law No. 3713 (Anti-terror law).

On 23 February 1993, the Istanbul State Security Court pronounced the applicant’s continuing detention on the ground that the reasons for his detention on remand had not disappeared.

On 19 April 1994 the court decided to join the case with that pending before another court, as some of the defendants had been put on trial for similar charges before this court. Following this decision the number of the co-defendants of the applicant increased to twenty.

In the course of the criminal proceedings the applicant made numerous submissions for his release pending trial. He claimed that he was innocent and had been held in detention on remand for an excessive period. The Istanbul State Security Court dismissed these requests at each of the forty-eight hearings held between 17 May 1993 and 12 June 2000. In ordering the applicant’s continued detention each time, it relied on “the nature of the offence, the state of the evidence and the duration of the detention”.

On 12 June 2000 the Istanbul State Security Court convicted the applicant for being a member of an illegal organisation and committing the offence of armed robbery. The court sentenced the applicant to thirty-two years and six months’ imprisonment.

The judgment was, ex officio, subject to appeal. The applicant also appealed against the judgment.

On 15 May 2001 the Court of Cassation quashed the applicant’s conviction on the ground that the case-file did not enclose the applicant’s statement he made before the Kocaeli Assize Court, and remitted the case to the Istanbul State Security Court.

On 3 October 2001 the Istanbul State Security Court held its first hearing after the case was sent back to it. The applicant repeated his request for release from detention on remand during the hearing; the court dismissed his request on account of “the nature of the offence charged and the state of evidence”.

On 28 December 2001 the applicant was released from detention on remand.

On 22 May 2004, following the abolition of the Istanbul State Security Court, the applicant’s case was transferred to the Istanbul 11th Assize Court.

The case is still pending before the Istanbul 11th Assize Court.