9.  The applicant was born in 1956 and lives in Istanbul. 10.  On 15 September 1981 police officers from the Ankara Security Directorate arrested the applicant at his mother’s house in the Safranbolu district of Zonguldak on suspicion of membership of an illegal organisation, the Dev-Yol (Revolutionary Way). He was placed in custody at the Ankara Security Directorate. The applicant stated during his questioning that he had hidden ammunition belonging to the organisation in the chimney of his mother’s house. A search was conducted of the house and a large number of weapons and bullets, including a Kalashnikov automatic rifle and dynamite, were recovered. 11.  On 27 October 1981 the applicant was brought before the Military Court judge who ordered his detention on remand. 12.  On 26 February 1982 the public prosecutor at the Ankara Martial Law Court, whose jurisdiction covered Ankara, Çankırı and Kastamonu provinces, indicted the applicant together with 723 others. The charges against the defendants included membership of Dev-Yol, an organisation which aimed to replace the constitutional order with a Marxist-Leninist regime contrary to Article 146 of the Turkish Criminal Code. The applicant was further charged with robbery, bombing and armed attacks against persons, and opening fire on three houses. 13.  On 11 November 1987, having spent more than six years in prison, the applicant was released pending trial. 14.  After martial law was lifted, the Ankara Martial Law Court was subsequently designated as the Martial Law Court attached to the 4th Army Corps. 15.  On 19 July 1994 the Martial Law Court found the applicant guilty of the aforementioned offences. It was also established that the ammunition found in the house of the applicant’s mother had been used in various illegal activities. The applicant was convicted of an offence under Article 146 § 3 of the Turkish Criminal Code. The applicant appealed to the Military Court of Cassation (Askeri Yargıtay). 16.  On 26 December 1994 following the promulgation of Law no. 3953 of 27 December 1993 which abolished the jurisdiction of the Martial Courts, the case-file was transferred from the Military Court of Cassation to the Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay Ceza Dairesi). 17.  On 27 December 1995 the Court of Cassation quashed the judgment of the first instance court and sent the case-file to the Ankara Assize Court so that the applicant could be sentenced under Article 146 § 1 of the Turkish Criminal Code which prescribed capital punishment for the category of offence of which the applicant was convicted. 18.  On 16 July 2002 the Ankara Assize Court found the applicant guilty under Article 146 § 1 of the Turkish Criminal Code and sentenced him to death. This sentence was commuted to a life sentence. The applicant’s appeal against this judgment is at present pending before the Court of Cassation.