An author for the Ozgur Bakis [Free View] newspaper which later dissolved under continuous pressure, Baskaya had been found guilty six years ago on grounds of an article he wrote for the journal in 1999 which criticized the conduct of authorities on Turkey's Kurdish problem.
His application to the ECHR was based on articles 10 and 6/1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and made after the Court of Appeals refused to overturn the verdict. He claimed his "right to freedom of expression" had been violated and that he was denied a fair trial.
Establishing that the Baskaya case did indeed reflect violations of articles 10 and 6/1, the ECHR ruled unanimously this week that the writer had not been allowed a fair trial and that his freedom of expression had been restricted.
The court said a failure of relaying the public prosecutor's office opinion to the defendant during his trial and that his not being able to submit a written statement in relation to these views had harmed the process of a fair trial.
The ECHR also said that the reasons put forth by the judiciary in Turkey for the sentence did not justify the restriction of his right to freedom of expression.
Recognizing that Baskaya's article subject to trial had contained a number of remarks that seriously affected state policies in a negative way, the ECHR said it was still disproportional for the author to be sentenced for an article that did not entice the use of violence, did not call for armed resistance or uprising and did not contain any remarks of hatred.
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/TK/II/YE)
