ECHR Convicts Turkey of Punishing Funeral Attendance

The European Court of Human Rights issued its verdict on the case of Güler and Uğur, two individuals who were sentenced to prison for “terrorism propaganda” when they attended the funeral of PKK guerrillas. 

The court held that Turkey violated the European Declaration of Human Rights Article 9. 

Only for “attending the ceremony”

The applicants, İhsan Güler and Sinan Uğur, are two Turkish nationals who were born in 1964 and 1947 respectively and live in Ankara and İzmir (Turkey).

On 21 August 2006 the applicants took part in a religious service on the premises of the Party for a Democratic Society (DTP), of which they were active members and regional leaders, in Altındağ (Ankara), in memory of three members of the PKK (Workers’ Party of Kurdistan, an illegal armed organization) who had been killed by the security forces.

Following an investigation carried out by the prosecuting authorities, the applicants were prosecuted in the Ankara Assize Court for terrorist propaganda. They pleaded before the court that they had taken part in the service in order to comply with their religious obligations.

In a judgment of 24 September 2008 the Assize Court sentenced the two applicants to ten months’ imprisonment under section 7(2) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (Law no. 3713).

It found, in particular, that the persons in memory of whom the service had been organized were members of a “terrorist organization”, that they had been killed by the security forces in the course of actions conducted by that organization and that there existed serious doubts as to the real motives for the gathering in view of the choice of venue, namely the premises of a political party in which the symbols of the “illegal organization” had been displayed.

That judgment was upheld by a final judgment of the Court of Cassation on 8 March 2010 and the applicants were placed in detention to serve their sentence. ECHR found Turkey guilty of violating Article 9. 

The Court found that the interference with the applicants’ freedom of religion on account of that conviction had not been “prescribed by law” in so far as the domestic-law provision on which it had been based had not met the requirements of clarity and foreseeability.

Turkey will pay Güler and Uğur 7,500 euros each as non-pecuniary damages. (AS/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.