5.  The applicant was born in 1971 and was detained in the Üsküdar prison as at the time of his application to the Court. 6.  On 6 January 1993 the applicant was taken into police custody in Istanbul on suspicion of membership of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an illegal organisation). 7.  On 13 January 1993 he was brought before a single judge at the Istanbul Security Court who remanded him in custody. 8.  On 25 January 1993 the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court filed an indictment against the applicant and seventeen other people. The applicant was charged with membership of the PKK under Article 168 of the former Criminal Code. 9.  On 10 October 2001 the Istanbul State Security Court, after having held ten hearings, found the applicant guilty of activities carried out for the purpose of bringing about the secession of part of the national territory under Article 125 of the former Criminal Code. The applicant was sentenced to death, commuted to life imprisonment. 10.  On 12 February 2002 the Court of Cassation quashed the judgment of the first-instance court on the grounds that the Istanbul State Security Court had found that the applicant had committed certain acts which had not been included in the indictment of 25 January 1993. 11.  On 12 September 2002 the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court filed an additional indictment against the applicant, containing allegations that the applicant had committed the acts referred to in the State Security Court’s judgment of 10 October 2001. 12.  On 5 November 2003 the Istanbul State Security Court once again convicted the applicant under Article 125 of the former Criminal Code. (This judgment was not submitted to the Court). 13.  On 12 April 2004 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of 5 November 2003. 14.  On 23 September 2004 the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation dismissed the applicant’s request for rectification of the decision of 12 April 2004. 15.  On 19 November 2003 the Prison Disciplinary Board seized a letter written by the applicant and addressed to the “President of the United Kingdom” with a view to destroying it, considering that it “would stir up trouble” (“sakıncalı” in Turkish). 16.  On 3 December 2003 the applicant lodged an objection to the decision of 19 November 2003 with the Üsküdar Post-Sentencing Judge. 17.  On 10 December 2003 the Üsküdar Post-Sentencing Judge upheld the Prison Disciplinary Board’s decision. The judge held that the letter had been written as propaganda in favour of the PKK terrorist organisation and its leader, because it contained allegations that Abdullah Öcalan had been pressurised and isolated in prison. 18.  On 25 December 2003 the Üsküdar Assize Court dismissed the applicant’s objection to the decision of 10 December 2003.