PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 4819/02) 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 Turkish national, Mr Niyazi Çem (“the applicant”), on 6 June 2001.

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

On 13 September 2006 the Court decided to give notice of the application to the Government. Applying Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1965 and lives in Istanbul.

The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.

On an unspecified date in 1993, a detained member of the PKK (Workers' Party of Kurdistan) confessed to the authorities that a number of lawyers, among whom was the applicant, had been operating as undercover members of the organisation. Upon his confession, the public prosecutor attached to the State Security Court of Diyarbakır initiated a criminal investigation.

On 23 November 1993 the applicant was taken into custody, where he denied any association with the PKK.

On 20 December 1993 he was brought before a judge, who ordered his release pending trial.

On 22 December 1993 the prosecutor filed an indictment, charging the applicant, together with twenty-two other lawyers, with being a member of the PKK. The specific charges against him included the transmission of messages, documents and money among the incarcerated PKK members, the sheltering and healing of a wounded PKK militant and the delivery of 2 kilograms of heroin belonging to the PKK from Diyarbakır to Istanbul. The prosecutor subsequently charged nine other persons with similar crimes. Their cases were also joined to that of the applicant.

With a hearing on 17 February 1994, the State Security Court of Diyarbakır began the trial. At the same hearing, it ordered the release of all the accused who had not been already released by then.

On 19 September 1996 the prosecutor filed his observations on the merits.

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.

On 21 December 2000 Law no. 4616 governing conditional release, discontinuation of proceedings and suspension of the execution of sentences for offences committed before 23 April 1999 came into force.

On 22 February 2001 the court held that all of the accused were eligible, under the new legislation, for the discontinuation of the proceedings against them. Accordingly, it discontinued the proceedings against the applicant, to be resumed only if he were to be convicted of an offence of the same or a more serious kind within a five-year period.

On 22 February 2006 the five-year period expired and, no information from the applicant to the contrary having been submitted, the suspended criminal case against the applicant would appear to have been definitively dropped.