European Rights Court Condemns Turkey in two freedom of speech cases

The court ruled in favor of Teslim Tore, who was sentenced to one year, one month and 10 days in prison for "disseminating separatist propaganda" in a 1994 article entitled "Kurdistan's socialists must seize the moment."

"Finding that the severity of the applicant's sentence was disproportionate and not necessary in a democratic society, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 10" on freedom of expression, the court's registrar said.

It also ruled that the state security court that sentenced Tore could not be considered independent and impartial, and ordered Turkey to pay 310 euros (390 dollars) in material damages, 6,500 euros in moral damages, and 3,000 euros in legal costs.

The Strasbourg-based court also ruled in favor of Talat Turhan, who was sentenced to pay damages to a senior Turkish official for passages in his book "Extraordinary War, Terror and Counter-terrorism" which a Turkish court ruled defamatory.

The European court said the sentence amounted to a violation of freedom of expression because statements on the official were "value judgments on an issue of public interest.

"The Court reiterated that the truthfulness of a value judgment was not susceptible of proof and that the value judgment made by the applicant was based on information which was already known to the general public."