4.  The applicant was born in 1978 and lives in Izmir. 5.  The applicant was the representative of the Izmir branch of a political journal, namely the “Bread and Justice” magazine. 6.  On 29 April 2003 the police conducted a search in the journal’s office, and found certain books and magazines which they suspected to be illegal. These publications were confiscated. 7.  On an unspecified date, the applicant was summoned to the police station to give a statement concerning the ongoing investigation. She was accompanied by her lawyer during her interrogation. 8.  On 19 June 2003 the Izmir public prosecutor filed an indictment with the Izmir Magistrates’ Court. He accused the applicant of “failure to obey the order of an official authority”, under Article 526 § 1 of the Criminal Code, on the ground that some of the materials gathered from her office had been previously declared illegal by a decision of the Istanbul State Security Court. The indictment was not served on the applicant. 9.  On 14 July 2003 the Izmir Magistrates’ Court, without holding a hearing, issued a penal decree and found the applicant guilty as charged. It sentenced her to three months’ imprisonment. The court then commuted the applicant’s sentence to a fine of 606,874,000 Turkish liras[1]. In doing so, the court relied on the “simplified procedure” stipulated in Article 386 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for relatively minor offences. 10.  On 15 October 2003 the applicant challenged this decision before the Izmir Criminal Court. In her petition, the applicant complained that her defence rights had been breached as she was never heard by the domestic court. It was also noted in the petition that, when the applicant was summoned to the police station to give a statement, she had been accompanied by her lawyer during the interrogation. 11.  On 17 October 2003 the Criminal Court dismissed the objection without holding a hearing. The applicant was notified of this final decision on 27 October 2003.