CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;CHAMBER;ENG — 13 novembre 2003

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display:inline-block } .sFDE7661F { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:14.4pt } .s13202856 { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:32.2pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-18pt } .sE5C1F6E3 { width:3.33pt; font:7pt 'Times New Roman'; display:inline-block } .sF9250F8F { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:32.2pt; margin-bottom:36pt; text-indent:-18pt } .s379BC09C { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s523616E0 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center; font-size:14pt } .sF2DCD01B { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:14.2pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:14.2pt; font-size:11pt } .s4ACA9207 { page-break-before:always; clear:both; mso-break-type:section-break } .s662121A1 { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 }     FOURTH SECTION     CASE OF ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY     (Applications nos. 23145/93 and 25091/94)     JUDGMENT     STRASBOURG     13 November 2003       FINAL     24/03/2004           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 Elci and Others v. Turkey, The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:   Sir   Nicolas Bratza , President ,   Mrs   V. Strážnická ,   Mr   M. Fischbach,   Mr   R. Maruste ,   Mr   S. Pavlovschi ,   Mr   L. Garlicki , judges ,   Mr   F. Gölcüklü, ad hoc judge , and Mr M. O'BOYLE, Section Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 21October 2003, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: PROCEDURE 1.     The case originated in two applications (nos. 23145/93 and 25091/94) against 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 several Turkish nationals: Tahir Elçi, Nevzat Kaya, Şinasi Tur, Sabahattin Acar, Niyazi Çem, Mehmet Selim Kurbanoğlu, Meral Daniş Beştaş, Mesut Beştaş, Vedat Erten, Baki Demırhan, Arif Altinkalem, Gazanfer Abbasioğlu, Fuat Hayri Demır, Hüsniye Ölmez, İmam Şahin and Arzu Şahin (“the applicants”), on 21 December 1993 and 28 April 1994, respectively. The applications were joined on 9 September 1994. 2.     The applicants were represented by Professor Kevin Boyle and Professor Françoise Hampson, succeeded by MM Timothy Otty and Philip Leach, lawyers practising in the United Kingdom, assisted by Mmes Alice Faure Walker and Anke Stock. The applicants also had the assistance of MM Mustafa Sezgin Tanrıkulu, Osman Baydemir and Mehmet Emin Aktar, three Turkish lawyers. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by various Agents, in particular MM. Aslan Gündüz, Şükrü Alpaslan and Münci Özmen. 3.     The applicants, who are all Turkish lawyers, alleged that in November and December 1993 they were taken into detention by law enforcement officers on the pretext of involvement in criminal activities, but in reality because they had represented clients before the State Security Court and been involved in human rights work. They all claimed that their detention was unlawful (Article 5 of the Convention). Some of the applicants - Tahir Elçi, Şinasi Tur, Sabahattin Acar, Niyazi Çem, Mehmet Selim Kurbanoğlu, Meral Daniş Beştaş, Mesut Beştaş, Vedat Erten, and Hüsniye Ölmez - also claimed that they were tortured and otherwise ill-treated whilst in detention (Article 3). The applicants Tahir Elçi, Şinasi Tur, Sabahattin Acar, Niyazi Çem and Mehmet Selim Kurbanoğlu made further complaints concerning the searches and seizures which took place at the time of the arrests (Article   8 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1). A further aspect of the case related to an alleged hindrance of the rights of Tahir Elçi, İmam Şahin, Arzu Şahin, Sabahattin Acar and Baki Demırhan to make complaints to the Convention organs (formerly Article 25 of the Convention, now Article 34). 4.     The applications were declared partly admissible (in respect of the complaints specified in the previous paragraph) after a hearing on admissibility and merits by the Commission in Strasbourg on 2 December 1996. (The decision in Şahin and Şahin was partly re-opened and confirmed by the Commission on 30 June 1997.) Delegates of the Commission (Mr   H.   Danelius, Ms J. Liddy and Mr A. Arabadjiev) thereafter took the parties' oral evidence at a fact-finding hearing in Ankara between 7 and 11   December 1998. 5.     The applicants and the Government each filed final conclusions on the merits (Rule 59 § 1), the former on 30 September 1999 and the latter on 10   November 1999. 6.     The case was transmitted to the Court on 1 November 1999 in accordance with Article 5 § 3, second sentence, of Protocol No. 11 to the Convention, the Commission not having completed its examination of the merits of the applications by that date. 7.     The applications were 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 of the Rules of Court. Mr R. Türmen, the judge elected in respect of Turkey, withdrew from sitting in the case (Rule 28). The Government accordingly appointed Mr F. Gölcüklü to sit as an ad hoc judge (Article 27 § 2 of the Convention and Rule 29 § 1). 8.     On 1 November 2001 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1). This case was assigned to the newly composed Fourth Section. 9.     The applicants submitted claims for just satisfaction dated 28 March 2003, to which the Government responded on 30 June 2003. THE FACTS I.   THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE 10.     The case concerns events in November and December 1993 when the applicants were taken into custody for questioning about their alleged links with the PKK (the Kurdish Workers' Party). 11.     The facts being disputed by the parties, the Commission appointed Delegates who took evidence in Ankara from 7 to 11 December 1998. They heard all the applicants (except for Hüsniye Ölmez) as witnesses, as well as Abdülhakim Güven, Fatma Demırel, Lokman Eğilmez, Eşref Hatipoğlu, Mahmut Demırel, Hasan Bozoğlu, Mithat Gül, Burhanettin Kiyak, Fırat Yavuz Yedekçi, Ünal Haney, Batuhan Özer, Murat Kirikçi, Hüsein Gazi Ateş, Ercüment Dönmez, Ali Kara, Hasan Şener, Cafer Öngün and Mehmet Durmaş. 12.     The transcripts of the oral evidence, together with the documentary evidence provided by the parties to the Commission, have been transmitted to the Court. The relevant material is summarised below (Sections C and   D), as are the original submissions by the parties concerning the facts (Sections A and B). A.   The applicants' original submissions on the facts 1. The case of Tahir Elçi 13.     On 23 November 1993 at around 8.30 a.m. two plain-clothed policemen went to the applicant Tahir Elçi's office in Cizre. After being searched, the applicant was taken to the gendarmerie. At 10 a.m. six policemen, including the two who had detained the applicant, returned with him to search his office. They seized all the applicant's note-books, powers of attorney, case files (particularly concerning applications to the Commission - no. 21689/93 Özkan and 31 others v. Turkey , no. 21895/93 Cağirge v. Turkey and no. 20764/92 Ertak v. Turkey ). H is collection of newspapers (the pro-Kurdish Özgür Gündem, Özgür Halk and Rawson), magazines and books were also seized. The applicant signed a procès-verbal concerning his provisional detention. At 11 a.m. the policemen took the applicant to his home, where they made a search but did not seize anything. He was kept at the police station until being handed over to the Cizre gendarmerie command a day or so later. 14.     He alleged that he was ill-treated by the Cizre police. He was stripped naked, insulted, threatened and beaten up. His testicles were squeezed and cold water was poured on him. This lasted about an hour. Then they took the applicant to the Cizre district gendarmerie command where he was kept, blindfolded, for a couple of days in a basement. Thereafter he was handed over to the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command. 15.     On 25 November 1993 the applicant's brothers were informed by the prosecuting authorities and a captain of the gendarmerie that he had been taken into detention on 24 November. 16.     The applicant was detained in Diyarbakır incommunicado until his formal remand in custody on 10 December 1993. He alleged that during this first period of detention he was interrogated under torture concerning and because of applications he had filed on behalf of clients with the Commission. Correspondence and documentation relating to those applications were put to him by his interrogators. He was supposed to confess to having relations with the PKK and being a PKK courier. When he refused he was tortured. The interrogators assaulted and abused him, particularly concerning one of the cases he had taken to the Commission involving events at the Ormaniçi village. He was stripped and left naked. He was threatened with death should he pursue claims of village evacuations and disappearances. At one point he was taken to the countryside in a military vehicle and told that he was to be killed. However, he refused to sign any confession statement, even after being hosed down with cold water (as was Niyazi Çem) and having had his testicles squeezed. 17.     In the gendarmerie command he was forced to lie on a concrete floor, blindfolded, being forbidden to speak to others or to stand up. Within a 24 hour period he received a stale slice of bread and was taken to the toilet twice. A request for other needs to be met was an excuse for further torture sessions. 18.     He was brought before a Prosecutor on 10 December 1993, where charges based on the allegations of a certain Abdülhakim Güven, a PKK confessor benefiting from the Remorse Law, were put to him. It was incorrectly alleged that an illegal magazine and document had been found in his office. His brother, Ömer, who had also been present during the search and had counter-signed the search report, could confirm this error, as could his other brother, Mehmet, who had also been present during the search (see paragraph 480 below). A false search report (a faxed not an original copy) supplanted the genuine version in the domestic court file. 19.     The applicant was remanded in custody by a judge from 10 December 1993 until 17 February 1994, when he was released after a hearing before the State Security Court. Despite repeated requests from his legal representatives, his case files and Commission correspondence were allegedly never returned to him. His legal practice was irreparably damaged by these proceedings, following which he moved to Diyarbakır. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 79-102 below.) 2. The case of İmam Şahin and Arzu Şahin 20.     On 7 December 1993 İmam Şahin was taken into custody by policemen from the Anti-Terror Department in İstanbul, when he was about to attend a hearing before the State Security Court. After being held at the Anti-Terror Department for a while, he was taken to his home where a search was carried out, but nothing incriminating was seized. His wife, Arzu Şahin, who was at home, was also taken into custody and they were both blindfolded and placed in a cell in the Security Directorate. They claim that they were not informed of the reasons for their detention. 21.     On 11 December 1993 they were handed over to plain-clothed gendarmes from Diyarbakır. Mr Şahin had to pay for the air fares to Diyarbakır of himself, his wife and these officials. On arrival, the couple were detained at the provincial gendarmerie command. Mr Şahin alleged that he was tortured over 14 days, being given a quarter of a loaf of bread (about 200   g.) to eat a day. He did not see his wife during this time, nor was he informed of her fate. Prior to being brought to court, he was interrogated in the middle of the night and, after threats of rape had been made against his wife, he was made to scribble blindfolded on certain papers. He did not know their contents. 22.     Arzu Şahin also claimed to have been interrogated under duress. She was detained in similar conditions to those of the other applicants, with a meagre daily ration of bread and minimal access to toilet facilities. 23.     On 21 December 1993 Mr and Mrs Şahin were brought before the Investigating Judge who remanded them in custody on the basis of incriminating accusations made against them by the aforementioned Abdülhakim Güven (paragraph 18 above). Mr Şahin said that he neither knew this person nor had had any relations with him. He had not been to several of the prisons cited by Mr   Güven in his connection, as a verification of prison visiting records could establish. 24.     Throughout this time the applicants had to leave their children with neighbours. 25.     In the indictment issued on 22 December 1993, Arzu Şahin was charged, inter alia , with “drawing up documents belittling the Turkish State and faxing them to human rights organisations in European countries”. This was understood to be a reference to Mrs Şahin's role in the preparation of the Özgür Gundem newspaper's application to the Commission, submitted in December 1993 ( Özgür Gündem v. Turkey, no. 23144/93, ECHR 2000-III). 26.     Mr and Mrs Şahin were released on 17 February 1994 after a hearing before the State Security Court. Mr Şahin claimed that these proceedings wrought irreparable damage on his professional and family life. (For further details see the summary of their oral evidence, §§ 103-122 below.) 3. The case of Nevzat Kaya 27.     On the afternoon of 18 November 1993, three armed gendarmes carried out a search of Mr Kaya's office, with his consent, which was described in a report which he signed. He was taken to the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command and was required to hand over his personal effects, which were noted. Nothing incriminating was found. He was then taken for a medical examination before being handed over to the JITEM (the Gendarmerie's Intelligence and Anti-Terror Department). 28.     JITEM officers blindfolded the applicant after putting him in a vehicle. The ensuing journey lasted 25 to 30 minutes. In the vehicle he was asked what connections he had with the PKK and was slapped and threatened with death if he did not speak. The applicant denied support for the PKK and acknowledged that some of the clients he was defending professionally, charging fees, were accused of PKK offences. The applicant claimed that he was later taken to an unknown place where his identity was recorded, after which he was taken to a room and ordered to squat on the floor. He heard people screaming and very loud music was played. 29.     During the evening of the following day, the applicant was interrogated. He was accused of being the PKK's lawyer and ordered to explain himself. The applicant insisted that he had no relations with the PKK other than in his authorised professional capacity as a defence lawyer. The applicant alleged that he was then ill-treated. He was confronted with Abdülhakim Güven who stated that the applicant had organised the PKK lawyers, which the applicant denied. He had met Mr   Güven, a prisoners' representative, when he had visited clients at the Diyarbakır E-type prison. 30.     The next day the applicant returned to the interrogation room where the torture was repeated, accompanied by threats to damage his sexual organs. The applicant wrote a statement himself denying any connection with the PKK. All detainees were blindfolded and slept on a concrete floor. Half a loaf of bread and two visits to the toilet were offered per day. On the seventh or eighth day of custody, the applicant and his colleagues decided to carry out a hunger strike, which lasted two and a half days. 31.     On the night of 8 December 1993, the detainees were called up one by one and ordered to sign a number of documents, followed by more ill-treatment. The applicant did not sign during the first session. At the second session Fuat Hayri Demir told the applicant that everyone else had signed. He was then forced to sign documents without reading them, so their contents were unknown to him. Because of the bad state of health of his colleagues - MM. Elçi and Çem and Mmes Beştaş and Ölmez - on 9   December   1993, no one was taken to court that day. 32.     On 10 December 1993 he was brought to court after a cursory medical examination by a doctor who, apparently being frightened of the gendarmes, did not mention the evidence of torture in his report. After his release, the applicant received treatment for kidney and stomach problems. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 123-132 below.) 4. The case of Şinasi Tur 33.     On 15 November 1993 in the evening, the applicant was taken into custody by the police after his house had been searched with his father's consent. A search report stated that nothing incriminating had been found. He protested against his apprehension, as lacking any authority or jurisdiction. (He had been detained on three previous occasions in 1991, 1992 and 1993 in connection with PKK activities; the last occasion led to a conviction and prison sentence, which was the subject of an appeal at the material time.) 34.     He was handed over to the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command and interrogated there for 26 days (25 days according to official records). A former PKK member, Abdülhakim Güven, who was a confessor, confronted the applicant and accused him and other practising lawyers of assisting the PKK. The allegations focused on the exchange of notes between different prisons concerning the PKK and organic relations with that organisation. The applicant was forced to sign pre-prepared statements as he was scared. He had not known their contents and, when he was later informed, he repudiated them. 35.     The applicant alleged that during his detention he was severely beaten, threatened with execution, insulted, deprived of sleep and food and blindfolded much of the time. He stated that Tahir Elçi, Niyazi Çem and Meral Daniş Beştaş had been tortured with cold water. 36.     On 10 December 1993 the applicant was released by a judge who did not take into account the statements made in detention. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 133-145 below.) 5. The case of Sabahattin Acar 37.     On 15 November 1993 at about 6.30 p.m., there was a ring at Mr   Acar's door bell and he was told to open up for the police. In order to check their credentials, in view of recent police impostors abducting and killing human rights workers in the region, the applicant called the Chief Prosecutor at the State Security Court. His nephew, Burhan Acar, was at the applicant's house, together with a guest. Three hours later, a commissioner arrived from the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command, whom the applicant knew, whereupon the applicant opened his door to about 15 policemen, gendarmes and special team members, who then conducted a thorough, two-hour search of his flat. 38.     The applicant was taken from his home by gendarmes, together with some of his books, cassettes and articles concerning work he had completed for the Human Rights Association when he had been a member of its management. He was blindfolded for the journey and taken to the provincial gendarmerie command. He was not informed of the reasons for his apprehension. He was then locked in a dark, damp cell, without any heating, after being given a blanket, although the temperature outside was below 0 o C. 39.     On the third day of his detention he was taken somewhere for interrogation. The interrogators asked him, in particular, whether he had relations with the PKK, whether he had attended hearings before the State Security Court concerning PKK militants and whether he had prepared reports on human rights. (This was understood to be a reference to his work in the preparation of application no.   22947/93, Nebahat Akkoç v. Turkey , to the Commission [Court judgment of 10 October 2000], as well as his communications with the London based Kurdistan Human Rights Project). Then he was confronted with a PKK confessor, Abdülhakim Güven. When the applicant refused to accept the accusations made against him, he was taken outside and stripped naked. He was threatened with being taken into the hills and killed. He alleged that, during interrogations, he was slapped, kicked and beaten. The applicant finally signed a statement whilst blindfolded as he was ill and scared. 40.     During his detention he was taken to the toilet twice a day, at 6 in the morning and evening. It was impossible to use the toilet or get drinking water at other times. He received a slice of stale bread every 24 hours. 41.     26 days later (25 days according to official records), on 10 December 1993, he was brought before a Prosecutor of the State Security Court when he was informed of the contents of the document he had signed. He was accused of many acts which had not been mentioned during the interrogations. He was remanded in custody at the Diyarbakır E-Type Prison. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 146-158 below.) 6. The case of Niyazi Çem 42.     In front of the building of the İstanbul State Security Court on 23 November 1993 around midday, Mr Çem was taken into custody by five policemen from the Anti-Terror Department. The relevant report on that date stated that he had been apprehended at the request of the Diyarbakır provincial gendarme command in connection with organisational activities for the PKK, which included acting as a courier. The “house search with consent” report of that date mentioned that the applicant had been detained with the permission of the Chief Public Prosecutor of the State Security Court. 43.     Mr Çem was taken to the police station of the Gayrettepe 1 Division. His house was searched, but nothing was seized. His bag was searched and in the evening he was thrown into a cell. 44.     On 26 November 1993 he was transferred to the Bursa Osmangazi Detention Centre and returned to the Gayrettepe premises on the evening of the following day. On 28 November 1993 the applicant and a suspect from Bursa were taken by air to Diyarbakır and the premises of the JITEM at the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command. 45.     For the first two days Mr Çem was not interrogated. Interrogation began on 1 December 1993 at around 11.30 p.m. Three more blindfolds were wrapped over his eyes. The applicant was accused of having accompanied a certain Riza Altun, a PKK protector, by plane, to İstanbul and of having sent him to join the PKK, of acting as a PKK courier between prisons, of organising PKK relations between İstanbul and Europe, and of having contacts with the political branch of the PKK, as well as with the Özgür Gündem and Özgür Halk newspapers. The applicant denied any relations with the PKK, other than with certain clients whom he had defended before the State Security Court. He was then sworn at, hit and his hair was pulled. Abdülhakim Güven was brought in and accused the applicant of being a prison courier. The applicant replied that Mr Güven was inventing such accusations in order to benefit from the Remorse Law, and he explained his position regarding prison visits to his clients. On one such occasion he had met Mr Güven. The next day he was again interrogated with the same accusations being made, which he continued to deny. 46.     The applicant stated that throughout the 18 days of his detention (17 days according to official records), he was beaten, threatened, abused, insulted, forced to listen to loud music and to sleep on a cold, concrete floor, whilst being blindfolded all the time. He was given a half a loaf of bread once and taken to the toilet twice each day. There were blankets on the stone, corridor floor - two for three people. The detainees put one on the floor and covered themselves with the other. 47.     He alleged that he was stripped naked, together with Tahir Elçi, and hosed down with pressurised cold water in the toilet on 9 December 1993 as he had refused to sign statements, the contents of which were not disclosed to him. The cold water torture only ceased when he began bashing his own head against the wall as he could not bear it any more. Tahir Elçi, Meral Daniş Beştaş and Hüsniye Ölmez suffered the same treatment. Everyone in the place heard the screams of Hüsniye Ölmez. 48.     During the evening of 8 December 1993, the interrogators tried to make him sign a statement they had prepared without allowing him to read it first. As he refused, he was beaten. On 9 December 1993 he was again told to sign the statement and, when he refused, he and Tahir Elçi were taken to the toilet, stripped naked and tortured with cold pressurised water. When he could not take any more, the applicant began hitting his head against the wall. He was then taken out, dressed and placed with his friends. The next day he was brought before a court. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 159-172 below.) 7. The case of Mehmet Selim Kurbanoğlu 49.     On 20 November 1993 at 7.20 a.m., the applicant was taken into custody by gendarmes from his home, after it was searched. Nothing was seized. He believed that his arrest was based on the abstract declarations of a PKK confessor, Abdülhakim Güven, whom the applicant had met when visiting clients in prison, and who was seeking to save himself. He also considered his arrest to have been unlawful, as being contrary to the safeguards provided by the Law on Advocates (see paragraphs 584-586 below). 50. He was blindfolded and transported to the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command. He was placed in a crowded, damp corridor near a toilet where he was required to lie on the cold, concrete floor with only a blanket. As everyone was blindfolded, he made voice contact with the other detained lawyers. 51.   During the 21 days he was in custody (20 days according to official records), he alleged that he was punched, slapped, kicked, threatened with death and kept constantly blindfolded. He was given nothing to eat apart from half a loaf of bread a day. He was made to sign a fabricated record of the aforementioned search (which falsely indicated that a PKK note had been seized), as well as a statement, which he later repudiated before the Public Prosecutor. 52.     On 10 December 1993 he was brought before the Diyarbakır State Security Court, when he was released. On 15 December 1993 he was re-arrested after the Prosecutor's appeal, and remanded in the Diyarbakır E-type prison. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 173-187 below.) 8. The case of Meral Daniş Beştaş 53.     Mrs Beştaş and her husband were taken into custody during the early evening of 16 November 1993 when leaving the Diyarbakır State Security Court. They were transported in a car by people who said they were contra-guerillas disguised as officers. During transportation she and her husband were threatened with death. They were taken to what she later learned was the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command. She was kept standing, facing a wall, for a couple of hours and then put in a very cold, dark cell on her own and given a blanket. Half an hour later she was taken to the interrogation room and accused of being a courier for the PKK. She replied that she had visited prisons by reason of her job. She alleged that she was slapped twice and told to strip. As she was removing her jumper, she was ordered to get dressed again. She was advised to confess later or be tortured. She was then returned to her cell. During the evening of the following day, she was interrogated again. She was accused of being the secretary of the Human Rights Association and of working for the PKK. For a whole week she was questioned about her activities for the Association, and particularly about applications against Turkey made to European institutions. 54.     Two days before being brought to court, she was taken from her cell in the middle of the night. She was given a pen and told to sign some papers. She refused to do so without reading them first, whereupon she was taken elsewhere and tortured, being stripped naked, subjected to continual insults and hosed down with cold water three times, for at least an hour each time. She was threatened with being tortured in front of her husband. As a result of the cold water treatment and the probable ensuing hypothermia, she contracted pneumonia, of which she had medical evidence. 55.     During her 25 days in custody (24 days according to official records), the applicant was allowed to go to the toilet twice daily and was given a piece of bread once a day. Deafening music was played throughout her detention and she heard others screaming. 56.     She was released on 10 December 1993. (For further details see the summary of her oral evidence, §§ 188-204 below.) 9. The case of Mesut Beştaş 57.   Apart from the death threat, Mr Beştaş recounts similar events to those experienced by his wife concerning their apprehension on 16 November 1993 (paragraph 53 above). At the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command, he was put in a cell and given a single blanket, which was insufficient protection from the cold. He was allowed a slice of bread a day during his detention. 58.     He was accused of being a courier for the PKK. The applicant insisted that he was a lawyer who took on all kinds of cases. He claimed that he was frequently taken to the interrogation room, being beaten up on his way there, and being threatened with torture. During his 25 days in custody (24 days according to official records), he was blindfolded and he was forced to listen to very loud music and nationalist songs. He was also forced to sign a statement after threats to sexually abuse his wife were made. 59.     The applicant was brought before the State Security Court Prosecutor on 10 December 1993. The questions put to him were based on the false declarations of a former PKK member, Abdülhakim Güven, who had benefited from the Remorse Law. He was released and then re-arrested on 14 December 1993, after the Prosecutor's appeal, and remanded in the Diyarbakır E-type prison. At a hearing before the State Security Court on 17 February 1994, he was released, after being threatened, together with his colleagues, by a gendarme commander. He stated that he had contracted pneumonia because of the cold he had experienced in gendarme custody. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 205-219 below). 10. The case of Vedat Erten 60.     On 23 November 1993 when leaving the Diyarbakır State Security Court around midday, Mr Erten was apprehended by gendarmes, who refused to draw up a report on this in the presence of witnesses. An “apprehension and search report” was drafted later, which he alleged was unlawful. He gave all his belongings and documents to a trainee lawyer. The gendarmes took him to the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command where he was questioned about his reasons for taking political cases. The applicant replied that as a lawyer it was his duty to do so, and that not all his cases were political. He claimed that he was made to strip naked, abused, insulted, kicked and slapped. His colleagues - MM. Elçi and Çem and Mmes Beştaş and Ölmez - were stripped naked and doused with cold water. False accusations, which the applicant denied, were made against him by Abdülhakim Güven. 61.     On 8   December 1993 he was forced to sign some papers because he was scared. He was unaware of their contents as he was blindfolded. The conditions of detentions were inhuman: a slice of bread once and brief toilet visits twice a day. Moreover, he and the other detainees were crowded together in a wet corridor. 62.     When he was brought to court on 10 December 1993, he learned of the statements made against him by Abdülhakim Güven. The Prosecutor alleged that he had been apprehended in possession of an incriminating PKK document. The applicant replied that this was impossible and illogical. He claimed to have been “framed”, for he knew of the wave of arrests of his colleagues at that time and the rumours about Abdülhakim Güven. So he would have had to have been out of his mind to carry such papers around with him. 63.     The applicant was released then re-arrested a few days later on an arrest warrant dated 14   December   1993, following the Prosecutor's appeal. He was remanded in custody in the Diyarbakır E-type prison. He was again released on 17 February 1994 by the State Security Court. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 220-234 below.) 11. The case of Baki Demırhan 64.     On 16 November 1993 the applicant was taken into custody when he was leaving the Diyarbakır State Security Court. He was transported to the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command. In general he was made aware by his interrogators that the PKK confessor, Abdülhakim Güven, had alleged that he was in league with PKK prisoners, had acted as a courier for them, and had smuggled unlawful materials into prisons, e.g. a flick knife.   The applicant denied the allegations. 65.     The applicant's brother had been detained in the same prison as Mr   Güven. Mr Güven also attended all interviews with clients. The applicant was confronted, whilst blindfolded, with Mr Güven. He signed certain statements, the contents of which he did not know, because of the psychological pressure brought to bear on him. He was released on 10   December 1993. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 235-239 below.) 12. The case of Arif Altinkalem 66.     On 16 November 1993 the applicant was taken into custody by gendarmes after leaving the Diyarbakır State Security Court around 4.30   p.m., together with Meral Daniş Beştaş, Mesut Beştaş and Baki Demirhan. He was transported to the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command. When he was interrogated, he was questioned about the cases he had defended before the State Security Court.   He was accused of assisting PKK detainees by acting as a courier and not charging fees for his work.   He was told that the PKK confessor, Abdülhakim Güven, had made certain allegations about him and other local lawyers.   The applicant denied these allegations . He signed various statements, the contents of which he did not know, under physical and psychological duress. He was released on 10   December 1993. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 240-248 below.) 13. The case of Gazanfer Abbasioğlu 67.     On 30 November 1993 the applicant was arrested at another lawyer's office. After the official search report noted that nothing incriminating had been found, he was taken into custody by gendarmes. He was transported to the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command. He was accused of being a member of and assisting the PKK, and of constantly defending PKK cases. He denied the allegations. The applicant signed certain documents under duress in order to avoid being tortured. He did not know their contents at that point as he had been blindfolded. He was released on 10 December 1993. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 249-255 below.) 14. The case of Fuat Hayri Demır 68.     On 3 December 1993 the applicant was arrested by gendarmes from the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command as he was leaving the State Security Court around 12.30 p.m. One or two days later he was taken for interrogation and accused of being a courier for the PKK between prisons, and of assisting and harbouring the PKK. Someone calling himself Mr   Güven was apparently present and urged the applicant to confess like him. He denied these allegations. Under threat of torture, he signed certain documents, the contents of which were unknown to him, as he was blindfolded. He was released on 10 December 1993. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence and the summaries of his statements, §§ 262-278 and 424-442 below.) 15. The case of Hüsniye Ölmez 69.     On 16 November 1993 the applicant was apprehended by gendarmes from the Diyarbakır provincial gendarmerie command. She alleged that she was made to strip naked and tortured with beatings and cold water dousing during her detention. She was constantly threatened and forced to sign some papers, the contents of which she did not see as she was blindfolded, with her hand being held. She was remanded in custody on 10 December 1993 and released by the State Security Court on 17 February 1994. (Ms Ölmez did not appear before the Commission Delegates, but further details were given by some of her colleagues; see the summary of the evidence - §§ 31, 47 and 60 above and §§ 96, 141, 153, 166, 197, 228, 254 below; see also §§   287, 505-506, 521, 539 and 548 below). B.   The Government's original submissions on the facts 70.     Following incriminating statements made by Abdülhakim Güven, who was on trial for his active membership of the PKK terrorist organisation, an investigation was instigated against the applicants. He alleged that the applicants had aided and abetted the organisation in various ways. (For further details see the summary of his statements to the gendarmerie and the Diyarba