The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Turkey had restricted the freedom of expression of jailed Kurdish deputy Hatip Dicle.

Answering an application Dicle made to the court in 2004, the Court found Turkey of violating the Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights by sentencing the Kurdish deputy on the grounds of the criticism he directed at the government in an article he wrote.

The Court sentenced Turkey to pay a fine of EUR 4,500 to Dicle including court expenses.

The applicant, Mehmet Hatip Dicle, was born in 1955 and lives in Diyarbakır, the Court explains. He was convicted in criminal proceedings for writing and publishing an article in which he criticised government policy in the town of Dersim, denouncing the economic situation and the growth of drug trafficking. He also claimed that the Kurds in the region had been victims of a policy of assimilation and genocide. Relying in particular on Article 10 (freedom of expression), Mr Dicle complained that his right to freedom of expression had been infringed.