An author for the Ozgur Bakis [Free View] newspaper which later dissolved under continuous pressure, Baskaya was found guilty for separatist propaganda on grounds of an article he wrote for the journal in 1999. His application is based on articles 10 and 6/1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Several years after Baskaya was sentenced, the renown State Security Courts which often harbored military officers on the bench and one of which passed his verdict, were abolished. They were replaced, instead by the Specialized High Criminal Courts.
Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law regulating the offence of separatist propaganda was, meanwhile, abolished under the scope of the European Union reforms. (EO/II/YE)
