PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 4415/02) 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 a Syrian national, Mr Abdülmenaf Osman (“the applicant”), on 2 November 2001.

The applicant was represented by Mr M. Vefa, a lawyer practising in Diyarbakır. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) did not designate an Agent for the purposes of the proceedings before the Court.

The applicant alleged that he was not tried before an independent and impartial tribunal and that the length of the proceedings exceeded the reasonable time. He invoked Article 6 of the Convention.

On 6 October 2005 the Court (First Section) declared the application partly inadmissible and decided to communicate the complaints concerning the independence and impartiality of the Diyarbakır State Security Court and the length of the proceedings 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

THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1965 and he is currently detained in the Gaziantep Prison.

On 13 March 1993 the applicant was taken into custody by policemen from the Anti-Terrorism Branch of the Batman Security Directorate on suspicion of his membership of an illegal organisation, namely the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (“the PKK”).

On 13 April 1993 the applicant was brought before the public prosecutor and the investigating judge where he repeated his police statements. The judge ordered the applicant's detention on remand.

On 26 April 1993 the Diyarbakır State Security Court Public Prosecutor filed an indictment against 38 accused persons, including the applicant. He accused the applicant of carrying out activities aimed at breaking up the unity of the State and removing part of the national territory from the State's control. He requested the court to sentence the applicant in accordance with Article 125 of the Criminal Code.

Two further indictments were submitted to the Diyarbakır State Security Court concerning offences which the applicant had allegedly committed in Bitlis and Tatvan. The Diyarbakır State Security Court decided to examine these accusations jointly.

Between 16 June 1993 and 20 April 1999, the court held 51 hearings, during which the judges dealt with solely procedural matters. They considered the measures that should be taken to secure the presence of the accused persons at the hearings and examined their continued detention. The applicant did not attend many of these hearings in protest against the State Security Courts.

On 18 June 1999 the constitution was amended and the military judge sitting on the bench of the Diyarbakır State Security Court was replaced by a civilian judge. Thereafter, the court held 18 more hearings.

On 12 March 2002 the Diyarbakır State Security Court, which was composed of three civilian judges, found the applicant guilty as charged and sentenced him to the death penalty under Article 125 of the Criminal Code. The death penalty was commuted to a life sentence.

On 1 October 2002 the Court of Cassation upheld the decision of the Diyarbakır State Security Court.