Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: European Court of human rights

Date: 10/21/2008

Subject: The applicant, İsak Tepe, is a Turkish national who was born in 1943 and lives in Istanbul. The case concerned criminal proceedings against the applicant on a charge of making separatist propaganda, on account of a speech he made in January 1999 as a member of the People’s Democracy Party (Halkın Demokrasi Partisi - HADEP). In his speech, on the Kurdish question, the applicant referred to “the heroes in the mountains” and “the liberation of a nation”. In April 2001 the Istanbul National Security Court, applying an amnesty law, suspended the applicant’s trial and placed him on probation for five years. The applicant relied in particular on Article 10 (freedom of expression). The Court noted that the speech contained an ambiguity which could have suggested he was referring to an armed struggle. However, having examined the whole text, it considered that the speech, delivered by the applicant as a politician, did not incite recourse to violence, armed resistance, or insurrection, which was the essential point to be taken into consideration. In the present case the speech was not such as to encourage violence by inspiring a deep and irrational hatred of specific persons. The Court observed that prosecuting the applicant did not correspond to any pressing social need and that it was accordingly not necessary in a democratic society. It held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 10.

Parties: İsak Tepe c/ Turchia

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 11 Freedom of expression