Communicated on 16 January 2017

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 50121/12 Mehmet ÖZÇELİK against Turkey lodged on 28 May 2012

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicant, Mr Mehmet Özçelik , is a Turkish national who was born in 1963 and lives in Mu ş . He is represented before the Court by Mr S. Kaya, a lawyer practising in Ankara.

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

At the time of the events giving rise to the present application, the applicant was one of the administrators of the district branch of the Democratic Society Party ( Demokratik Toplum Partisi ) (DTP) in Varto , Mu ÅŸ .

On 13 October 2007 the applicant, together with a number of other local politicians, conducted a visit to the local graveyard as the day in question was a religious holiday.

On 28 January 2008 the Van public prosecutor filed a bill of indictment with the Van Assize Court charging the applicant with disseminating propaganda in favour of the PKK under section 7(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713). The public prosecutor noted that the applicant had visited the graves of three members of the PKK, an illegal armed organisation, who had been killed by the security forces in 1992 and had made a speech there. According to the bill of indictment, the applicant had referred in his speech to the deceased members of the PKK as “martyrs” and had thus praised them. The public prosecutor relied, among others, on the police ’ s video-recording of the event, photographs and a police report on the examination of the video-recording.

On 6 May 2008, at the first hearing held in the case, the Van Assize Court convicted the applicant as charged, holding that he had praised the PKK and its members and had glorified dying for the PKK ’ s aims by calling deceased members of that organisation “martyrs”. The court sentenced the applicant to one year ’ s imprisonment.

The applicant appealed. In his appeal, the ap plicant submitted, inter alia , that he had not referred to members of an illegal organisation as martyrs but to deceased members of DEHAP, a political party.

On 20 September 2011 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of 6 May 2008.

On 28 November 2011 the decision of the Court of Cassation was deposited with the first-instance court ’ s registry.

On 18 April 2012 the applicant received a summons from the Van public prosecutor ’ s office to start serving his prison sentence within ten days of the receipt.

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 a speech he made, constituted an unjustified interference with his right to freedom of expression.

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 (Law no. 3713)?