Communicated on 18 January 2017

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 21013/11 Ziya AYDEMIR against Turkey lodged on 11 March 2011

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicant, Mr Ziya Aydemir, is a Turkish national who was born in 1957 and lives in Diyarbakır. He is represented before the Court by Ms S. Arac ı Bek and Mr T. Bek , lawyers practising in Adana.

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

On 6 February 2006 officers from the Adana police conducted a search of the Adana branch of the Democratic Society Party ( Demokratik Toplum Partisi ) (DTP). The police found photographs of deceased members of the PKK, an illegal armed organisation , a banner with the words “Execution shall not be imposed on Kurdish children and captivity shall not be imposed on the leadership”, documents on the PKK and documents containing the notes of meetings between Abdullah Ö calan , the leader of the PKK, and his lawyers.

On 28 February 2006 the Adana public prosecutor lodged a bill of indictment with the Adana Assize Court charging the applicant and eight others with membership of the PKK and disseminating propaganda in favour of the PKK on account of the materials found at the Adana branch of the DTP. The public prosecutor noted that the applicant and his co-accused were provincial administrators of the DTP in Adana.

During the criminal proceedings, the applicant submitted that at the time they had been in the process of establishing the DTP ’ s Adana branch and that he had simply taken note of the photographs when he had gone to the office for a meeting. The applicant submitted that he had not been involved in displaying the photographs in the office.

On 14 May 2007 the Adana Assize Court convicted the applicant of disseminating propaganda in favour of the PKK under section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713). The court held that the applicant ’ s submission that he had not been aware of the existence of the photographs of the dead members of the PKK, which were displayed as “martyrs” in the office, was not convincing as he had been one of the provincial administrators and could have removed those items. The court concluded that the applicant had therefore committed the offence of disseminating propaganda in favour of the PKK. He was accordingly sentenced to ten months ’ imprisonment.

On 7 July 2010 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of 14 May 2007.

COMPLAINT

The applicant complains under Article 10 of the Convention that his conviction and sentence under section 7(2) of Law no. 3713 on account of certain pictures and other items found in DTP ’ s Adana office constituted a breach of his right to freedom of expression. In that connection, he submits that he had no involvement in displaying the photographs and keeping the other items found in the office since he had not been an administrator of the DTP at the time. Even assuming that he had been responsible for the photographs in question, the applicant contends that he should not have been punished because of them since the display of the photographs in question had the aim of expressing a wish for peace in Turkey.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Has there been a violation of the applicant ’ s right to freedom of expression, protected by Article 10 of the Convention, on account of his conviction under section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act?