PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 33746/02) 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 two Turkish nationals, Mr Ali Baba Arı and Mr Ali Şen (“the applicants”), on 20 June 2002.

The applicants were represented by Mr and Mrs Kırdök, lawyers practising in Istanbul. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) did not designate an Agent for the purposes of the proceedings before the Court.

On 12 July 2006 the Court decided to give notice of 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 FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicants were born in 1962 and 1963 respectively. The first applicant is currently detained in the Bolu F-Type Prison and the second applicant is detained in the Edirne F-Type Prison.

On 24 and 28 October 1993 respectively the applicants were taken into custody by police officers from the anti-terror branch of the Istanbul Security Directorate on suspicion of membership of an illegal organisation, the TKP‑ML (Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist).

On 8 November 1993 a single judge at the Istanbul State Security Court ordered the applicants' detention on remand.

On 6 January 1994 the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court filed a bill of indictment against the applicants and eight other persons. The applicants were charged with attempting to undermine the constitutional order, contrary to Article 146 § 1 of the Criminal Code and Article 5 of the Law on the Prevention of Terrorism (Law no. 3713).

On 27 January 1994 the 4th Chamber of the Istanbul State Security Court held the first hearing in the case.

On 27 November 1997 the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court submitted his opinion on the merits of the case against the applicants, requesting that they be convicted of the original charge.

On 3 June 2002 the applicants again requested to be released pending trial before the first-instance court. On the same day, the court dismissed their request.

On 4 June 2002 the applicants filed an objection against the decision of 3 June 2002.

On 5 June 2002 the 5th Chamber of the Istanbul State Security Court dismissed the applicants' objection, having regard to the nature of the offence, the state of the evidence and the content of the case-file.

Between 27 January 1994 and 23 October 2002 the 4th Chamber of the Istanbul State Security Court held 44 hearings. At the end of each hearing, the first-instance court, relying on the state of the evidence and the nature of the offence, refused to release the applicants.

On 23 October 2002 the Istanbul State Security Court convicted the applicants as charged and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

On 5 May 2003 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of 23 October 2002.