STRASBOURG - The European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) ruled that there had been a violation of freedom of expression and right to a fair hearing in the case of former Turkish prime minister Necmettin Erbakan versus Turkey.
The concerned chamber of the court, comprised by seven judges, decided that there had been a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights, by six votes to one.
The court held unanimously that there had been a violation of clause 1 of the Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) of the Convention.
As the applicant had not submitted a claim for just satisfaction within the time allowed, the Court considered that no award should be made to him under Article 41 (just satisfaction) of the Convention.
Applying to the ECHR in 2000, Erbakan said that a lawsuit was filed against him in 1998 on charges of a public speech he gave in eastern city of Bingol during the local election campaign on February 25th, 1994. Diyarbakir State Security Court sentenced Erbakan to one-year imprisonment and a fine.
In his application, Erbakan said that his conviction had infringed his right to freedom of expression, and claimed that his case had not been heard by an independent and impartial tribunal on account of the presence of a military judge among the members of the State Security Court.