PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 41956/98) against the Republic of Turkey lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission”) under former Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Turkish national, Mr Yavuz Aksaç (“the applicant”), on 6 January 1998.

The applicant, who had been granted legal aid, was represented by Mr H. Erdoğan and Mr L. Kanat, lawyers practising in Ankara. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) did not designate an Agent for the purposes of the proceedings before the Convention institutions.

The applicant alleged under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention that he had been denied a fair hearing on account of the presence of a military judge on the bench of the Ankara State Security Court which tried and convicted him. He further complained under Article 6 § 3 (b) that the written opinion of the chief public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation had never been served on him, thus depriving him of the opportunity to put forward his counter-arguments. He finally contended that he had been convicted merely on account of his association with a left-wing magazine, in violation of his rights under Articles 9 and 10.

The application was transmitted to the Court on 1 November 1998, when Protocol No. 11 to the Convention came into force (Article 5 § 2 of Protocol No. 11).

The application was allocated to the Second 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 1 November 2001 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1). This case was assigned to the newly composed First Section (Rule 52 § 1).

By a decision of 15 January 2004 the Court declared the application partly admissible. It retained the applicant’s complaints concerning his right to a fair hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal and his right to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence and declared the remainder of the application inadmissible.

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

On 24 May 2004 the case was assigned to the Third Section of the Court.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1971 and lives in Ankara.

On 23 March 1995 the applicant was arrested and placed in police custody by police officers from the Ankara Security Directorate. He was accused of aiding and abetting an illegal organisation, the DHKP-C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front).

On 6 April 1995 the public prosecutor attached to the Ankara State Security Court filed an indictment with the latter charging the applicant, under Articles 168 § 2 and 169 of the Criminal Code and Article 5 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, with membership of an illegal organisation.

On 10 April 1996 the Ankara State Security Court found the applicant guilty of aiding and abetting an illegal organisation, the DHKP-C, and sentenced him to three years and nine months’ imprisonment and debarred him from public service for three years.

The applicant appealed. On 11 June 1997 the chief public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation submitted his written opinion (tebliğname) on the merits of the appeal to the Court of Cassation. The chief public prosecutor proposed that the first instance court’s judgment be upheld. The written opinion of the chief public prosecutor was read out during the hearing before the Court of Cassation.

On 10 July 1997 the Court of Cassation dismissed the applicant’s appeal upholding the Ankara State Security Court’s judgment.