The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of the above-mentioned parliamentarians, former members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/181/11(a)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 180th session (May 2007),

Recalling the following: Ms. Zana, Mr. Dicle, Mr. Dogan and Mr. Sadak were sentenced in December 1994 to a 15-year prison term for membership in an armed organization; on 26 June 2001, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that they had not enjoyed a fair trial; a retrial opened in March 2003 before the Ankara State Security Court, which on 21 April 2004 upheld the conviction and the sentence, again without respecting fair trial guarantees; on 9 June and 14 July 2004, the Cassation Court (Yargitay) ruled that Ms. Zana, Mr. Dicle, Mr. Dogan and Mr. Sadak had not received a fair trial, and ordered their release and retrial; in March 2007, the 11th High Criminal Court of Ankara sentenced them to seven years and six months' imprisonment under Article 5 of Law 3713 and Article 314 (2) of the Turkish Penal Code; the former parliamentarians concerned have filed a petition with the Cassation Court against that ruling; that second retrial, too, reportedly failed to respect the fair trial standards set by the European Court of Human Rights, in particular the fact that important exonerating evidence had been destroyed,

Considering that, according to media reports, on 20 May 2007 the Yargitay Prosecutor summoned the political party to which the four former parliamentarians referred to above now belong, the Party for a Democratic Society (DTP), to strike their names from its electoral roll for the legislative elections of 22 July 2007 because of their conviction and sentencing, and that this was indeed done; that, however, there was reportedly no legal basis for this decision for the following reason: under Article 11, paragraph 5, of the Law on Political Parties, persons convicted by a high court of final instance of membership in a terrorist organization may not become members of a political party; however, the conviction of the former parliamentarians concerned has not become final since an appeal before the Cassation Court is still pending; moreover, under Article 53, paragraph 2, of the Criminal Code, persons convicted of crimes may not exercise their political rights until they have served their sentence, which is the case here since they had already served 10 years of imprisonment while their current sentence is seven years and six months, which means that they have already served it,

Recalling that Mr. Sinçar was assassinated in September 1993 and that this crime has remained unpunished to date; that Mr. Aydar, Mr. Toguç, Mr. Kilinç, Mr. Yigit and Mr. Kartal, all of whom fled abroad in 1994, were subsequently accused of separatism and are liable to arrest should they return to Turkey; that, according to the parliamentary authorities, the separatism charges are related to activities they carried out while in exile and that no information to the contrary has been submitted to the Committee,

1. Deeply regrets that Ms. Zana, Mr. Dicle and Mr. Sadak were debarred from standing in the legislative elections apparently on doubtful legal grounds;

2. Notes that the court has now delivered a sentence of seven years and six months against them, but that they served a total of 10 years in prison; considers therefore that they were arbitrarily deprived of their right to liberty for two and a half years, and are therefore entitled to compensation under Article 5, paragraph 5, of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to compensation for illegal detention, and/or Article 50 providing for "just satisfaction" in the event of a breach of one of the rights enshrined in the Convention;

3. Fears that its longstanding concerns in this case about respect for fair trial guarantees have still not been put to rest, given that the judgment handed down by the 11th High Criminal Court of Ankara may again be the outcome of a flawed trial since important evidence had been destroyed and could therefore not be taken into account; reiterates its wish to receive a copy of the judgment in question;

4. Trusts that the Court of Cassation (Yargitay) will give due consideration to the concerns raised by the petitioners in this regard; wishes to be kept informed of the proceedings;

5. Notes that, according to the authorities, the charges which are still pending against Mr. Aydar, Mr. Toguç, Mr. Kilinç, Mr. Yigit and Mr. Kartal are unrelated to their former parliamentary activities; decides, in the absence of any further communication from the source regarding their situation, to close the examination of their case;

6. Reiterates its wish to ascertain whether any investigation is still under way to identify and bring to justice those responsible for the murder of Mr. Sinçar, and recalls that ample evidence exists which should enable the authorities, given the necessary resolve, to elucidate his murder;

7. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the newly elected parliamentary authorities and to the sources.

8. Requests theCommittee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held during the 118th Assembly of the IPU (Cape Town, April 2008).

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1 Mr. Orhan Dogan died on 29 June 2007.

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