CASE OF ATILGAN AND OTHERS v. TURKEY
Violation of Article 10 - Freedom of expression -{General} (Article 10-1 - Freedom of expression)
Egidijus Kūris;Helen Keller;Jon Fridrik Kjølbro
4. The applicants, whose names appear in the appendix hereto, are Turkish nationals who live in Istanbul. They are the owners, executive directors, editors-in-chief, editors and members of the technical staff of nine publications which were issued on daily, weekly, biweekly or bimonthly basis: Haftalık Yorum, Politik Yorum, Ülkede Yorum, Yeni Demokratik Toplum, Yeni Demokratik Yaşam, Yeni Demokratik Ulus, Azadiya Welat, Demokratik Ulus, and Özgür Mezopotamya. They are represented before the Court by Mr Ö. Kılıç and Ms A. Taşdemir, lawyers practising in Istanbul. 5. On various dates between 23 June 2010 and 15 February 2012, the Istanbul Assize Courts decided to suspend the publication and distribution of the abovementioned nine newspapers for periods ranging from fifteen days to one month under section 6 (5) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713), on the ground that the newspapers had published propaganda in favour of various illegal organisations. All copies of the relevant issues were seized. The applicants raised objections to the suspension orders but these objections were dismissed shortly afterwards by the Istanbul, Assize Courts. Neither the applicants nor their representatives were permitted to participate in any of the proceedings held before the Assize Courts. 6. The details of the proceedings may be found in the appended table.