issued by the Registrar of the Court
ECHR 101 (2019)
19.03.2019
Three individuals convicted in criminal proceedings for activities covered
by their freedom of expression: violation of Article 10
the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:
a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The case concerned the conviction of the three applicants in criminal proceedings for disseminating
propaganda in favour of an illegal organisation (the MKLP, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party).
The Court observed that, in giving reasons for its judgment, the Assize Court had noted in particular
that the applicants were readers of the periodicals Atılım and Özgür Gençlik, that they had chanted
slogans and displayed banners and placards at demonstrations, and that they had books, periodicals
and documents at their homes connected to the organisation in question.
The Court held that the applicants’ conviction had been based on activities covered by the exercise
of their right to freedom of expression, and observed that there had been interference with the
exercise of that right. In the Court’s view, the domestic courts had not provided relevant and
sufficient reasons to justify that interference. They had not examined the content of the articles
published by the periodicals, the slogans that had been chanted, the placards and flags that had
been displayed or the publications and documents found at the applicants’ homes. Hence, they had
not provided sufficient clarification as to whether the activities in question could be regarded
generally as containing an incitement to violence, armed resistance or insurrection, and whether
they amounted to hate speech, which in the Court’s view was the main element to be taken into
account.
As a result, the Court considered that it was not possible to determine on the basis of the domestic
courts’ rulings how they had performed their task of weighing the applicants’ freedom of expression
against the legitimate aims pursued. Accordingly, the interference had not met a pressing social
need, had not been proportionate to the legitimate aims pursued and had not been necessary in a
democratic society.
Principal facts
The applicants, Selçuk Mart, Yusuf Bayraktar and Selver Orman, are Turkish nationals who were born
in 1982, 1983 and 1981 respectively.
In July 2004 the Ankara public prosecutor charged the applicants with the offence of membership of
an illegal organisation (the MLKP). In February 2007 the Ankara Assize Court sentenced them to two
years and six months’ imprisonment, reclassifying the offence as disseminating propaganda in favour
of the illegal organisation the MLKP, which was likely to incite others to violence (section 7(2) of Law
no. 3713). The Assize Court considered, among other points, that the applicants were readers of the
periodicals Atılım and Özgür Gençlik – which the court considered to be official organs of the MLKP,
in view of their editorial line and the articles they published, their target readership and the persons
1. Under Articles 43 and 44 of the Convention, this Chamber judgment is not final. During the three-month period following its delivery,
any party may request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court. If such a request is made, a panel of five judges
considers whether the case deserves further examination. In that event, the Grand Chamber will hear the case and deliver a final
judgment. If the referral request is refused, the Chamber judgment will become final on that day.
Once a judgment becomes final, it is transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for supervision of its execution.
Further information about the execution process can be found here: www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/execution.
