The European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey on Tuesday November 24 for the pre-trial detention of a journalist suspected of "
propaganda
" in favor of organizations "
considered to be terrorists
", despite the absence of "
plausible suspicions
".
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The judges of the ECHR considered, unanimously, that this detention constituted a violation of the right to liberty and security, guaranteed by Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
They also found, by a majority, that there had been a violation of the right to freedom of expression (Article 10).
The court was seized by Ahmet Sik, a journalist who worked for the opposition daily Cumhuriyet when he was arrested at his home and taken into custody in December 2016.
He was suspected of "
making propaganda for organizations considered terrorist by the
Turkish
government
": the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Revolutionary Front Party for the Liberation of the People (DHKP-C) and the FETÖ, acronym for the network of the preacher Fethullah Gülen, accused by Ankara of having instigated the aborted coup d'état of 2016. Ahmet Sik was questioned about articles published by the newspaper and messages posted on social networks, before being placed in pre-trial detention for 1 year and two months, until March 2018.
The judges stressed that Ahmet Sik's articles "
had the value of journalistic information and contributed to public debate
" in Turkey.
They concluded that "there were"
no plausible reasons to suspect Mr. Sik of having committed a criminal offense
", and that his detention constituted"
an interference with the exercise of his right to freedom of expression
".
The Turkish judge and the Lithuanian judge expressed partly dissenting opinions.
The Court ordered Turkey to pay 16,000 euros to the journalist for “non-
pecuniary damage
”.
Following his detention, in April 2018, Ahmet Sik was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison by the Istanbul Assize Court.
After a cassation appeal from the journalist, the case is currently pending.
In early November, the ECHR had already condemned Turkey for having placed in pre-trial detention 10 journalists from the opposition daily Cumhuriyet in 2016.
