CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;CHAMBER;ENG — 12 mars 2003

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margin-bottom:0pt } .s8DCCCE3B { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:17pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-indent:-17pt } .s2452CEB3 { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:36pt; text-indent:14.4pt } .sD85D3081 { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:left; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid } .s9D025815 { width:20.21pt; display:inline-block } .s736F943B { width:193.17pt; display:inline-block } .s7602FED2 { width:18.21pt; display:inline-block } .s60570E66 { width:233.81pt; display:inline-block } .s379BC09C { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s44D84940 { page-break-before:left; clear:both; mso-break-type:section-break } .s523616E0 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center; font-size:14pt } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .s82B4DA5F { page-break-before:right; clear:both; mso-break-type:section-break }     FIRST SECTION     CASE OF ÖCALAN v. TURKEY     (Application no. 46221/99)     JUDGMENT     STRASBOURG     12 March 2003       THIS CASE WAS REFERRED TO THE GRAND CHAMBER, WHICH DELIVERED JUDGMENT IN THE CASE ON 5 May 2005       This judgment will become final in the circumstances set out in Article   44 §   2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Öcalan v. Turkey, The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:   Mrs   E. Palm , President ,   Mrs   W. Thomassen ,   Mr   Gaukur Jörundsson ,   Mr   R. Türmen ,   Mr   C. Bîrsan ,   Mr   J. Casadevall ,   Mr   R. Maruste , judges , and Mr M. O'Boyle , Section Registrar , Having deliberated in private on 26 February 2002, and on 22 January and 10   February 2003, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on the last ‑ mentioned date: PROCEDURE 1.     The case originated in an application (no.   46221/99) 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 Abdullah Öcalan (“the applicant”), on 16 February 1999. 2.     The applicant was represented by Mr Ahmet Avşar, Mr Doğan Erbaş, Mr   İrfan Dündar, Mr Hasip Kaplan, Ms Aysel Tuğluk, Mr İmmihan Yaşar, Mr   Mükrime Tepe and Mr Filiz Köstak, of the Istanbul Bar, Mr Hatice Korkut and Mr Kemal Bilgiç, of the İzmir Bar, Mr Mahmut Şakar and Mr   Reyhan Yalçındağ, of the Diyarbakır Bar, Mr Niyazi Bulgan, of the Gaziantep Bar, Mr Aydın Oruç, of the Denizli Bar and Mr Mark Muller, a London barrister. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their co-Agents, Mr Francis Szpiner, of the Paris Bar, and Mr Şükrü Alpaslan. 3.     The applicant alleged, in particular, violations of various provisions of the Convention, namely Articles 2 (right to life), 3   (prohibition of ill-treatment), 5 (right to liberty and security), 6 (right to a fair trial), 7 (no punishment without law), 8 (right to respect for private and family life), 9   (freedom of thought, conscience and religion), 10 (freedom of expression), 13 (right to an effective remedy), 14 (prohibition of discrimination), 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights) and 34   (individual applications). 4.     The application was allocated to the First 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. 5.     On 4 March 1999 the Court requested the Government to take interim measures within the meaning of Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, notably to ensure that the requirements of Article 6 in the proceedings against the applicant in the State Security Court were complied with and that the applicant was able to exercise his right to individual application to the Court through lawyers of his own choosing effectively. On 8 March 1999 the respondent Government lodged their observations. The applicant's representatives did likewise on 12 March 1999. On 23 March 1999 the Court invited the Government to clarify specific points concerning the measures taken pursuant to Rule 39 to ensure that the applicant had a fair trial. On 9 April 1999 the legal adviser at the Turkish Permanent Representative's Office stated that the Government were not prepared to reply to the Court's questions, as they went far beyond the scope of interim measures within the meaning of Rule 39. On 29 April 1999 the Court decided to communicate the application to the Government for their observations on its admissibility and merits. The Government lodged their observations on 31 August 1999. The applicant lodged his observations in reply on 27 September and 29 October 1999. On 2 July 1999 one of the applicant's representatives requested the Court to invite the Government to “stay the decision to execute the death penalty imposed on the applicant on 29 June 1999 until the Court has decided the merits of his complaints”. On 6 July 1999 the Court decided that the request for Rule 39 to be applied could be considered if the applicant's sentence was upheld by the Court of Cassation. On 30 November 1999 the Court decided to indicate to the Government the following interim measure for adoption: “The Court requests the respondent State to take all necessary steps to ensure that the death penalty is not carried out so as to enable the Court to proceed effectively with the examination of the admissibility and merits of the applicant's complaints under the Convention.” On 12 January 2000 the Turkish Prime Minister announced that the applicant's file was to be transmitted to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (which is empowered to approve or disapprove enforcement of the death penalty) when the proceedings before the Court were over. 6.     A hearing concerning both the admissibility and the merits of the complaints (Rule 54 § 4) took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 21 November 2000.   There appeared before the Court: (a)   for the Government Mr Francis Szpiner and Mr Şükrü Alpaslan ,   co-Agents ; Mr Yunus   Belet , Mr Orhan Nalcıoğlu , Mr Ergin Ergül , Mr Gülhan Akyüz , Mr Bilal   Çalışkan , Mr Özer Zeyrek , Mr Recep Kaplan , Mr Cengiz Aydın , Mr Tuncay Çınar , Mr Kaya Tambasar , Mr Münci Özmen, Ms Deniz Akçay , Ms Didem Bulutlar and Ms Banur   Özaydın ,   Advisers ; (a)   for the applicant Mr Hasip Kaplan , Sir Sydney Kentridge , Mr Mark Muller and Mr Timothy   Otty ,   Counsel , Mr Kerim Yildız , Mr İrfan Dündar , Mr Doğan Erbaş , Ms Gareth   Pierce, Mr Louis Charalambous and Mr Philip Leach ,   Advisers .   The Court heard addresses by Mr Szpiner and Mr Alpaslan on behalf of the Government and Mr Kaplan, Sir Sydney Kentridge, Mr Muller and Mr   Otty on behalf of the applicant. By a decision of 14 December 2000 the Chamber declared the application partly admissible. On 15 December 2000 the Government and the applicant were advised that, pursuant to Rule 72 § 2, the Chamber had decided to give notice to the parties of its intention to relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber in accordance with Article 30 of the Convention. On 15 January 2001 the Government objected to relinquishment. As a consequence, the case remained before the Chamber. 7.     The applicant and the Government each filed observations on the merits (Rule 59 § 1) and written comments on each other's observations. On 19 September 2002 the Government filed additional observations on the abolition of the death penalty in Turkey. On 22 October 2002 the applicant lodged his comments on that point. THE FACTS I.     THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE 8.     The applicant is a Turkish national who was born in 1949 and is currently being held in İmralı Prison (Mudanya, Bursa, Turkey). Prior to his arrest he was the leader of the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (“the PKK”). The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. A.     The applicant's arrest and transfer to Turkey 9.     On 9 October 1998 the applicant was expelled from Syria, where he had been living for many years. He arrived the same day in Greece, where the Greek authorities requested him to leave Greek territory within two hours and refused his application for political asylum. On 10 October 1998 the applicant travelled to Moscow in an aircraft that had been chartered by the Greek secret services. His application for political asylum in Russia was accepted by the Duma, but the Russian Prime Minister did not implement that decision. 10.     On 12 November 1998 the applicant went to Rome where he made an application for political asylum. The Italian authorities initially detained him but subsequently placed him under house arrest. Although they refused to extradite him to Turkey, they also rejected his application for refugee status and the applicant had to bow to pressure for him to leave Italy. After spending either one or two days in Russia he returned to Greece, probably on 1 February 1999. The following day (2 February 1999) the applicant was taken to Kenya. He was met at Nairobi Airport by officials from the Greek Embassy and put up at the Greek Ambassador's residence. He lodged an application with the Greek Ambassador for political asylum in Greece, but never received a reply. 11.     On 15 February 1999 the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Mr Öcalan had been on board an aircraft that had landed at Nairobi on 2 February 1999 and had entered Kenyan territory accompanied by Greek officials without declaring his identity or going through passport control. The announcement added that the Minister of Foreign Affairs had convened the Greek Ambassador in Nairobi in order to elicit information about the applicant's identity. After initially stating that the new arrival was not Mr Öcalan, on being pressed by the Kenyan authorities the Ambassador had gone on to acknowledge that he was. The Minister of Foreign Affairs had been informed by the Greek Ambassador that the authorities in Athens agreed to arrange for Mr Öcalan's departure from Kenya. The Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs also said that overseas Kenyan diplomatic missions had been the target of terrorist attacks and that the applicant's presence in Kenya constituted a major security risk. In those circumstances, the Kenyan Government were surprised that Greece, a State with which it enjoyed friendly relations, could knowingly have put Kenya in such a difficult position, exposing it to suspicion and the risk of attacks. Referring to the Greek Ambassador's role in the events, the Kenyan Government said that they had serious reservations about his credibility and had requested his immediate recall. The Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs added that the Kenyan authorities had played no part in the applicant's arrest and had had no say in his final destination. The Minister had not been informed of any operations by Turkish security forces at the time of the applicant's departure and there had been no consultations between the Kenyan and Turkish Governments on the subject. 12.     On the final day of his stay in Nairobi, the applicant was informed by the Greek Ambassador after the latter had returned from a meeting with the Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs that he was free to leave for the destination of his choice and that the Netherlands was prepared to accept him. On 15 February 1999 Kenyan officials went to the Greek Embassy to take the applicant to the airport. The Greek Ambassador said that he wished to accompany the applicant to the airport in person and a discussion between the Ambassador and the Kenyan officials ensued. In the end, the applicant got into a car driven by a Kenyan official. On the way to the airport the car in which the applicant was travelling left the convoy and, taking a route reserved for security personnel in the international transit area of Nairobi Airport, took him to an aircraft in which Turkish officials were waiting for him. The applicant was then arrested after boarding the aircraft at approximately 8 p.m. 13.     The Turkish courts had issued seven warrants for Mr   Öcalan's arrest and a wanted notice (“red notice”) had been circulated by Interpol. In each of those documents the applicant was accused of founding an armed gang in order to destroy the territorial integrity of the State and of instigating various terrorist acts that had resulted in loss of life. From the moment of his arrest the applicant was accompanied by an army doctor throughout the flight from Kenya to Turkey. A video recording and photographs taken of Mr Öcalan in the aircraft for use by the police were leaked to the press and published. In the meantime, the inmates of İmralı Prison were transferred to other prisons. 14.     The applicant was kept blindfolded throughout the flight except when the Turkish officials wore masks. The blindfold was removed directly the officials put their masks on. According to the Government, the blindfold was removed as soon as the aircraft entered Turkish airspace. The applicant was taken into custody at İmralı Prison on 16 February 1999. While being transferred from the airport in Turkey to İmralı Prison he wore a hood. On photographs that were taken on the island of İmralı in Turkey, the applicant appears without a hood or blindfold. He later said that he had been given tranquillisers, probably at the Greek Embassy in Nairobi. B.     Police custody on the island of İmralı 15.     From 16 February 1999 onwards the applicant was interrogated by members of the security forces. On 20 February 1999 a judge ruled on the basis of information in the case file that he should remain in police custody for a further three days as the interrogation had not been completed. 16.     The judges and prosecutors, who were from the Ankara State Security Court, arrived on the island of İmralı on 21 February 1999. 17.     According to the applicant, sixteen lawyers instructed by his family sought leave from the State Security Court on 22 February 1999 to see him. They were told orally that only one lawyer would be allowed access. Lawyers who went to Mudanya (the embarkation point for the island of İmralı) on 23 February 1999 were told by the administrative authorities that they could not visit the applicant. The applicant also alleges that his lawyers were harassed by a crowd at the instigation of plain-clothes police officers or at least with their tacit approval. 18.     As soon as the applicant was detained, the island of İmralı was decreed a prohibited military zone. According to the applicant, the security arrangements in his case were managed by a “crisis desk” set up at Mudanya. It was the crisis desk that was responsible for granting lawyers and other visitors access to the applicant. According to the Government, special measures were taken to ensure the applicant's safety. He had many enemies who might have been tempted to make an attempt on his life. Likewise according to the Government, it was precisely for security reasons that lawyers were searched. 19.     On 22 February 1999 the Public Prosecutor at the Ankara State Security Court questioned the applicant and took a statement from him as an accused. The applicant told the prosecutor that he was the founder of the PKK and its current leader. Initially, his and the PKK's aim had been to found an independent Kurdish State, but with the passage of time they had changed their objective and sought to secure a share of power for the Kurds as a free people who had played an important role in the founding of the Republic. The applicant confessed that village guards were a prime target for the PKK. He also confirmed that the PKK used violent methods against the civil population, in particular from 1987 onwards; he was personally opposed to such methods and had tried in vain to prevent their being used. He told the prosecutor that the warlords who wanted to seize power within the PKK had exerted some of their pressure on the Kurdish population; some of them had been tried and found guilty by the PKK and had been executed with his personal approval. He acknowledged that the Turkish Government's estimate of the number of those killed or wounded as a result of the PKK's activities was fairly accurate; that the actual number might even be higher; and that he had ordered the attacks as part of the armed struggle being waged by the PKK. He added that he had decided in 1993 to declare a ceasefire, acting on a request by the Turkish President, Mr Özal, which had been conveyed to him by the Kurdish leader Celal Talabani. The applicant also told the prosecutor that after leaving Syria on 9 October 1998 he had gone first to Greece and then to Russia and Italy. When the latter two countries refused to grant him the status of political refugee, he had been taken to Kenya by the Greek secret services. C.     Appearance before a judge and pre-trial detention 20.     On 23 February 1999 the applicant appeared before a judge of the Ankara State Security Court, who ordered that he should be detained pending trial. The applicant did not apply to the State Security Court to have that decision set aside. Before the judge he repeated the statement he had made to the prosecutor. He said that decisions taken within the PKK were submitted to him for final approval as founder and leader of the organisation. In 1973-78 the PKK's activities had been political. In 1977 and 1978 the PKK had organised armed attacks on the agalar (major landowners). In 1979, after the applicant had gone to Lebanon, the PKK had begun its paramilitary preparations. Since 1984 the PKK had carried on an armed struggle within Turkey. The persons in charge in each province decided on armed actions and the applicant had confirmed the general plan for such actions. He had taken the strategic and tactical decisions for the organisation as a whole. The units had carried out the decisions. D.     Contacts with the outside world during the judicial investigation and conditions at İmralı Prison 21.     On the day after he arrived in Turkey the applicant's Turkish lawyer, Mr Feridun Çelik, asked to visit his client. He was prevented by members of the security forces from leaving the premises of the Diyarbakır Human Rights Association and was subsequently arrested together with seven other lawyers. 22.     On 17 February 1999 the Turkish authorities at Istanbul Airport refused Ms Böhler, Ms Prakken and their partner Mr Koppen leave to enter Turkey to visit the applicant, on the ground that they could not represent him in Turkey and that Ms Böhler's past history (she was suspected of having campaigned against Turkey's interests and of having taken part in meetings organised by the PKK) gave rise to the risk of prejudice to public order in Turkey. 23.     On 25 February 1999 the applicant was able to talk to two of the sixteen lawyers who had asked to see him, Mr Z. Okçuoğlu and Mr   H.   Korkut. The first conversation took place in the presence of a judge and of members of the security forces wearing masks. The latter decided that it should not last longer than twenty minutes. The record of that conversation was handed over to the State Security Court. The applicant's other representatives were given leave to have their authority to act before the Court signed and to see their client later. 24.     During the preliminary investigation from 15 February 1999, when the applicant was arrested, and 24 April 1999, when the trial began, the applicant had twelve interviews with his lawyers. The dates and duration of those interviews were as follows: 11 March (45 minutes), 16 March (1   hour), 19 March (1 hour), 23 March (57 minutes), 26 March (1 hour, 27   minutes), 2 April (1 hour), 6 April (1 hour), 8 April (61 minutes), 12   April (59 minutes), 15 April (1 hour), 19 April (1 hour) and 22 April (1   hour). 25.     According to the applicant, his conversations with his lawyers were monitored from behind glass panels and filmed with a video camera. After the first two short visits the applicant's contact with his lawyers was restricted to two visits a week, lasting an hour each. On each visit the lawyers were searched five times and required to fill in a very detailed questionnaire. Likewise according to the applicant, he and his advisers were not allowed to exchange documents or take notes during these interviews. The applicants' representatives were unable to give him either a copy of his case file (other than the indictment, which was notified by the prosecution) or any other material which would allow the applicant to prepare his defence. 26.     According to the Government, no restrictions were placed on the applicant as regards either the number of visits by his lawyers or their length. Apart from the first visit, which took place under the supervision of a judge and members of the security forces who were present in the same room as the applicant and his lawyers, the interviews were held in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In order to ensure their safety, the lawyers were taken to the island of İmralı by boat after embarking at a private quay. Hotel rooms were booked for them near the embarkation point. Likewise according to the Government, no restrictions were placed on the applicant's correspondence. 27.     In the meantime, on 2 March 1999 delegates of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the “CPT”) visited İmralı Prison. In a letter of 22   March 1999 to the representatives of the Turkish Government they indicated that the applicant was physically in good health and that he had said that he had not suffered any ill-treatment since his arrest. His cell was of a high standard. The CPT drew the Government's attention to the fact that the applicant's solitary confinement and his limited access to the open air could affect him psychologically. 28.     The last visit by the CPT delegates to İmralı Prison, of which the applicant is the sole inmate, took place during their visit to Turkey from 2 to 14 September 2001. The delegates found that the cell occupied by the applicant was large enough to accommodate a prisoner and equipped with a bed, table, armchair and bookshelves. It also had an air-conditioning system, washing and toilet facilities and a window overlooking an inner courtyard. The applicant had access to books, newspapers and a radio, but not to television programmes or a telephone. On the other hand, he received twice daily medical checks by doctors and was visited by his lawyers once a week. E.     The media 29.     According to the applicant, even before his trial began he was portrayed by a section of the media as a “baby-killer”. His statements made as an accused during the preliminary investigation were disclosed to the press even before they had been made available to his lawyers. 30.     According to the Government, the media and journalists had shown avid interest in the Öcalan case and all sorts of comments were made as to whether or not the applicant should be found guilty. The applicant's lawyers brought an action against a journalist whom they considered to have libelled the applicant. F.     Trial at the State Security Court 31.     In an indictment submitted on 24 April 1999 (and joined to several others drawn up in the applicant's absence by various public prosecutors' offices between 1989 and 1998) the Public Prosecutor at the Ankara State Security Court accused the applicant of activities carried out for the purpose of bringing about the secession of part of the national territory. He sought the death penalty under Article 125 of the Criminal Code. 32.     The case file ran to 17,000 pages and had been prepared by joining the files of seven sets of proceedings already instituted against the applicant by the various state security courts. The applicant's lawyers were given access to the case file and the indictment on 7 May 1999. Since the judicial authorities had not been able to supply a copy of the file, the applicant's lawyers had brought their own photocopier and finished copying the file on 15 May 1999. The prosecution had failed to place certain documents in it, such as those concerning the applicant's arrest in Kenya and transfer to Turkey. 33.     The first two hearings held in Ankara on 24 and 30 March 1999 in the applicant's absence were taken up with procedural matters, such as third-party applications to intervene in the proceedings and the measures to be taken for the hearings to be held on the island of İmralı and for the attendance of the parties and the public at those hearings. According to the Government, allegations that the lawyers were harassed by the police when they emerged from the first hearing in Ankara on 24 March 1999 are currently the subject of a criminal investigation. 34.   The State Security Court, composed of two civilian and one military judge, held nine hearings on the island of İmralı from 31 May to 29 June 1999 and these were attended by the applicant. The applicant told the court, among other things, that he reiterated the statements he had made to the prosecutor and the judge. He confirmed that he was the most senior PKK agent, that he led the organisation and that he had instructed the members of the organisation to carry out a number of acts. He stated that he had not been ill-treated or insulted since his arrest. Furthermore, the applicant's representatives argued that the State Security Court could not be regarded as an independent and impartial tribunal within the meaning of Article 6 of the Convention. The applicant stated that, for his part, he accepted the court's jurisdiction. 35.     The applicant said that he was willing to cooperate with the Turkish State in order to bring to an end the acts of violence associated with the Kurdish question and he promised to halt the PKK's armed struggle. He indicated that he wished to “work for peace and fraternity and achieve that aim within the Republic of Turkey”. He observed that, while he had initially envisaged an armed struggle for the independence of the population of Kurdish origin, that had been as a reaction to the Government's political pressure on that population. When circumstances had changed, he had altered his aim and limited his claims to autonomy or a recognition of the Kurds' cultural rights within a democratic society. He accepted political responsibility for the PKK's general strategy but disclaimed criminal liability for the acts of violence which went beyond the PKK's declared policy. In order to highlight the rapprochement between the PKK and the Government, he applied to have the Government officials who had conducted negotiations with the PKK examined as witnesses for the defence. That application was refused by the State Security Court. 36.     The applicant's lawyers' applications for the communication of additional documents or for further investigations in order to collect more evidence were refused by the State Security Court on the ground that they were delaying tactics. 37.     The applicant's lawyers complained to the State Security Court about the restrictions and the difficulties they were having in conferring with their client. Their request to be permitted to confer with him during lunch breaks was accepted by the State Security Court at the hearing on 1   June 1999. On 2 June 1999 the State Security Court ruled that the applicant was to be given access to the case file under the supervision of two staff members and that the applicant's lawyers were to be allowed to provide him with copies of documents from the case file. The lawyers did not appear at the hearing on 3 June 1999. At their request, the transcripts of that hearing and copies of the documents placed in the file were given to them and the applicant on 4 June 1999. One of the applicant's counsel thanked the State Security Court for having instilled an atmosphere of calm. 38.     On 8 June 1999 the prosecution made their final submissions. They sought the death penalty for the applicant, pursuant to Article 125 of the Criminal Code. The applicant's advisers requested a one-month's adjournment to enable them to prepare their final submissions. The State Security Court granted them fifteen days, the statutory maximum allowed. 39.     On 18 June 1999 Turkey's Grand National Assembly amended Article 143 of the Constitution and excluded military members (whether of the bench or of the prosecutor's office) from state security courts. Similar amendments were made on 22 June 1999 to the Law on the State Security Courts. 40.     At the hearing on 23 June 1999 the judge appointed to replace the military judge sat for the first time on the bench of the State Security Court. The State Security Court noted that the new judge had already read the file and the transcripts, in accordance with Article 381 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and that he had followed the proceedings from the outset and had attended the hearings. The applicant's counsel opposed the appointment of the non-military judge owing to his previous involvement in the case. Their application for an order requiring him to stand down was dismissed by the State Security Court. 41.     Also on 23 June 1999 the applicant's counsel set out the applicant's substantive defence to the charges. 42.     On 29 June 1999, after hearing the applicant's final representations, the Ankara State Security Court found the applicant guilty of carrying out acts designed to bring about the secession of part of Turkey's territory and of training and leading a gang of armed terrorists for that purpose. It sentenced him to death, pursuant to Article 125 of the Criminal Code. The State Security Court held that the applicant was the founder and principal leader of the unlawful organisation the PKK. The aim of the latter was to detach a part of the territory of the Republic of Turkey so as to form a Kurdish State with a political regime based on Marxist-Leninist ideology. The court held that it had been established that, following decisions taken by the applicant and on his orders and instructions, the PKK had carried out several armed attacks, bomb attacks, acts of sabotage and armed robberies, and that in the course of those acts of violence thousands of civilians, soldiers, police officers, village guards and public servants had been killed. The court did not accept that there were mitigating circumstances allowing the death penalty to be commuted to life imprisonment, having regard to, among other things, the very large number and the seriousness of the acts of violence, the thousands of deaths caused by them, including those of children, women and old people, and the major, pressing threat to the country that those acts posed. G.     Appeal on points of law 43.     The applicant appealed on points of law against that judgment, which, on account of the gravity of the sentence, was in any event subject to review by the Court of Cassation automatically. 44.     In a judgment adopted on 22 November 1999 and delivered on 25   November the Court of Cassation affirmed the judgment of 29 June 1999 in every respect. It held that the replacement of the military judge by a civilian judge during the trial did not require the earlier procedural steps to be taken again seeing that the new judge had followed the proceedings from the beginning and that the law itself required that the proceedings should continue from the stage they had reached at the time of the replacement. The Court of Cassation also pointed out that the Ankara State Security Court was empowered by law to hold its hearings outside the area of its territorial jurisdiction, among other reasons on security grounds. 45.     As to the merits, the Court of Cassation had regard to the fact that the applicant was the founder and chairman of the PKK. It referred to the latter's aim and activities, namely that it sought the foundation of a Kurdish State on a territory which Turkey should be made to cede after an armed struggle and to that end carried out armed attacks and sabotage against the armed forces and industrial premises and tourist facilities in the hope of weakening the authority of the State. The PKK also had a political front (the ERNK ) and a military wing (the ARNK ), which operated under its control. Its income was derived mainly from “taxes”, “fines”, gifts, subscriptions and the proceeds of armed robberies, gun-running and drug trafficking. According to the Court of Cassation, the applicant led all three of these groupings. In his speeches at party conferences, in his radio and television appearances and in the orders he had given to his activists, the applicant had instructed his men to resort to violence, indicated combat tactics, imposed penalties on those who did not obey his instructions and incited the civilian population to translate words into deeds. As a result of the acts of violence carried out by the PKK from 1978 up until the applicant's arrest (in all, 6,036 armed attacks, 3,071 bomb attacks, 388 armed robberies and 1,046   kidnappings) 4,472 civilians, 3,874 soldiers, 247 policemen and 1,225   village guards had died. 46.     The Court of Cassation held that the PKK, founded and led by the applicant, had represented a substantial, serious and pressing threat to the country's integrity. It ruled that the acts of which the applicant was accused matched those which constituted the offence laid down in Article 125 of the Criminal Code and that it was not necessary, in order that that provision should apply, for the applicant – the founder and chairman of the PKK and the instigator of the acts of violence committed by that organisation – to have used a weapon himself. H.     Commutation of the death penalty to life imprisonment 47.     In October 2001 Article 38 of the Constitution was amended so that the death penalty could no longer be ordered or implemented other than in time of war or of imminent threat of war or for acts of terrorism. By Law no. 4771, which was published on 9 August 2002, the Turkish Assembly resolved, inter alia , to abolish the death penalty in peacetime (that is to say except in time of war or of an imminent threat of war) by amending the relevant legislation, including the Criminal Code. As a result of the amendments, a prisoner whose death sentence for an act of terrorism has been commuted to life imprisonment must spend the rest of his life in prison. In a letter to the Court of 19 September 2002, the Government declared: “Abdullah Öcalan no longer faces the execution of the death penalty as finalised on 22 November 1999 by the judgment of the Turkish Court of Cassation”. By a judgment of 3 October 2002 the Ankara State Security Court commuted the applicant's death sentence to life imprisonment. It ruled that the offences under Article 125 of the Criminal Code of which the applicant was accused had been committed in peacetime and constituted terrorist acts. The Nationalist Action Party ( MHP , Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi ), a political party with representatives in Parliament, applied to the Constitutional Court for an order setting aside certain provisions of Law   no.   4771, including the provision abolishing the death penalty in peacetime for persons found guilty of terrorist offences. The Constitutional Court dismissed that application in a judgment of 27 December 2002. On 9 October 2002 two trade unions – the Public-Sector Workers Union and the National Education Union (representing teachers) – which had intervened in the criminal proceedings on behalf of their deceased members, appealed on points of law against the judgment of 3 October 2002 by which the applicant's death sentence had been commuted to life imprisonment. They argued that the PKK's activities in south-east Turkey should be regarded as constituting “an imminent threat of war”. Those proceedings are still pending. II.     RELEVANT DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL LAW AND PRACTICE A.     Provisions on State Security Courts 48.     Before the Constitution was amended on 18 June 1999, Article 143 provided that State Security Courts were composed of a president, two other regular members and two substitute members. The President of the State Security Court, one of the regular members and one of the substitute members were appointed from among civilian judges, and the other regular member and substitute member were appointed from among military judges. 49.     As amended by Law no. 4388 of 18 June 1999, Article 143 of the Constitution provides: “... State Security Courts shall be composed of a president, two other regular members, a substitute member, a Principal Public Prosecutor and a sufficient number of Public Prosecutors. The president, two regular members, a substitute member and the Principal Public Prosecutor shall be appointed from among judges and public prosecutors of the first rank and public prosecutors from among public prosecutors of other ranks. Appointments shall be made for four years by the National Legal Service Council, in accordance with procedures laid down in special legislation. Their terms of office shall be renewable...” 50.     The necessary amendments concerning the appointment of the judges and prosecutors were made to Law no. 2845 on the State Security Courts by Law no. 4390 of 22 June 1999. By the terms of provisional section 1 of Law no. 4390, the terms of office of the military judges and military prosecutors in service in the State Security Courts were to end on the date of publication of that Law (22 June 1999). By provisional section 3 of the same Law, proceedings pending in the State Security Courts on the date of publication of the Law were to continue from the stage they had reached by that date. B.     Article 125 of the Turkish Criminal Code 51.     Article 125 of the Turkish Criminal Code provides: “Anyone committing an act designed to subject the State or a part of the State to the domination of a foreign State, to diminish its independence or to impair its unity or which is designed to remove from the administration of the State a part of the territory under its control shall be liable to the death penalty.” C.     Review of the lawfulness of detention 52.     The fourth paragraph of Article 128 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (as amended by Law no. 3842/9 of 18 November 1992) provides that any person who has been arrested or in respect of whom a prosecutor has made an order for him or her to remain in police custody may challenge the measure in question before the appropriate district judge and, if successful, be released. In proceedings in State Security Courts (governed by Law no. 2845 of 16 June 1983) Article 128 of the Code of Criminal Procedure applies only as it was worded before the amendments of 18   November 1992, when it did not provide any right of appeal to persons arrested or held in police custody on the orders of a prosecutor. 53.     Section 1 of Law no. 466 on the Award of Compensation to Persons Arrested Unlawfully or Held in Detention without Due Cause provides: “Compensation shall be paid by the State in respect of all damage sustained by persons: (1)     who have been arrested, or detained under conditions or in circumstances incompatible with the Constitution or statute law; (2)     who have not been immediately informed of the reasons for their arrest or detention; (3)     who have not been brought before a judicial officer after being arrested or detained within the time-limit laid down by statute for that purpose; (4)     who have been deprived of their liberty without a court order after the statutory time-limit for being brought before a judicial officer has expired; (5)     whose close family have not been immediately informed of their arrest or detention; (6)     who, after being arrested or detained in accordance with the law, are not subsequently committed for trial ..., or are acquitted or discharged after standing trial; or (7)     who have been sentenced to a period of imprisonment shorter than the period spent in detention or ordered to pay a pecuniary penalty only...” 54.     Article 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that, in principle, anyone arrested or detained pending trial may speak with his legal representative in private, without any need for the latter to have an authority to act. As regards the procedure in proceedings before the State Security Courts, Article 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is applicable only as worded prior to the amendments made on 18 November 1992. That version provides that a member of the state legal service may be present at meetings between the accused and his or her lawyer before the criminal proceedings have commenced. D.     Council of Europe and the death penalty 55.     Protocol No. 6 to the Convention provides (Article 1): “The death penalty shall be abolished. No one shall be condemned to such penalty or executed.”   Article 2 of Protocol No. 6 provides: “A State may make provision in its law for the death penalty in respect of acts committed in time of war or of imminent threat of war; such penalty shall be applied only in the instances laid down in the law and in accordance with its provisions. The State shall communicate to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe the relevant provisions of that law.” Protocol No. 6 has been ratified by forty-one of the forty-four member States of the Council of Europe and signed by all States, most recently on 15 January 2003 by Turkey. Only Turkey, Armenia and Russia have not yet ratified the Protocol. 56.     Protocol No. 13 to the Convention, which provides for the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances, was opened for signature on 3   May 2002. The Preamble to Protocol No. 13 reads: “The member States of the Council of Europe signatory hereto, Convinced that everyone's right to life is a basic value in a democratic society and that the abolition of the death penalty is essential for the protection of this right and for the full recognition of the inherent dignity of all human beings; Wishing to strengthen the protection of the right to life guaranteed by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms signed at Rome on 4 November 1950 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Convention'); Noting that Protocol No. 6 to the Convention, concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty, signed at Strasbourg on 28 April 1983, does not exclude the death penalty in respect of acts committed in time of war or of imminent threat of war; Being resolved to take the final step in order to abolish the death penalty in all circum