PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 1942/08) 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 İbrahim Güler (“the applicant”), on 3 December 2007.

The applicant was represented by Ms A. Pamukçu Yördem, a lawyer practising in Diyarbakır. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.

On 29 September 2010 the application was communicated to the Government.

THE FACTS

THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant, Mr İbrahim Güler, is a Turkish national who was born in 1973 and is currently serving a prison service in Diyarbakır.

On 5 November 1996 the applicant was taken into police custody during an operation carried out against Hizbullah, an illegal organisation.

On an unspecified date the applicant was questioned in the absence of a lawyer by police officers, who asked him about his affiliation to Hizbullah and events in which he was alleged to have taken part.

On 12 November 1996 the applicant was brought before the Mardin Public Prosecutor. He confirmed the content of his police statements before the prosecutor in the absence of a lawyer.

On the same day, an investigating judge at the Mardin Magistrate’s Court ordered the applicant’s pre-trial detention, again in the absence of a lawyer. He accepted the allegations against him and confirmed the statements he had made before the police and the public prosecutor.

According to two reports in the case file, dated 10 and 12 November 1996 respectively, the applicant was medically examined by a doctor who noted that there were no signs of physical violence on the applicant’s body.

By way of an application dated 30 December 1996, the applicant retracted his statements made before the police and the public prosecutor and requested his release from the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor’s office. He maintained that he had been tortured in police custody and that he had been threatened whilst being taken to the public prosecutor.

On 26 November 1996 the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor lodged an indictment before the Diyarbakır State Security Court, charging the applicant under Section 146 of the former Turkish Criminal Code with attempting to undermine the constitutional order of the State.

On 28 January 1997 at the first court hearing in the applicant’s case, the applicant retracted his statements made to the police, the public prosecutor and the investigating judge, alleging that they had been made under duress.

State Security Courts were abolished on 16 June 2004 by Law no. 5190. The case was accordingly transferred to the Diyarbakır Assize Court.

Throughout the proceedings, the applicant denied all the accusations against him.

On 31 March 2005 the first-instance court convicted the applicant as charged.

On 11 December 2006 the Court of Cassation quashed the conviction.

On 9 November 2007 the Diyarbakır Assize Court once again convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

On 21 January 2009 the Court of Cassation upheld the conviction.