ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 5 by these proceedings, following which he moved to Diyarbakır. (For further details see the summary of his oral evidence, §§ 79-102 below.) 2. The case of İmam Şahin and Arzu Şahin 20. On 7 December 1993 İmam Şahin was taken into custody by policemen from the Anti-Terror Department in İstanbul, when he was about to attend a hearing before the State Security Court. After being held at the Anti-Terror Department for a while, he was taken to his home where a search was carried out, but nothing incriminating was seized. His wife, Arzu Şahin, who was at home, was also taken into custody and they were both blindfolded and placed in a cell in the Security Directorate. They claim that they were not informed of the reasons for their detention. 21. On 11 December 1993 they were handed over to plain-clothed gendarmes from Diyarbakır. Mr Şahin had to pay for the air fares to Diyarbakır of himself, his wife and these officials. On arrival, the couple were detained at the provincial gendarmerie command. Mr Şahin alleged that he was tortured over 14 days, being given a quarter of a loaf of bread (about 200 g.) to eat a day. He did not see his wife during this time, nor was he informed of her fate. Prior to being brought to court, he was interrogated in the middle of the night and, after threats of rape had been made against his wife, he was made to scribble blindfolded on certain papers. He did not know their contents. 22. Arzu Şahin also claimed to have been interrogated under duress. She was detained in similar conditions to those of the other applicants, with a meagre daily ration of bread and minimal access to toilet facilities. 23. On 21 December 1993 Mr and Mrs Şahin were brought before the Investigating Judge who remanded them in custody on the basis of incriminating accusations made against them by the aforementioned Abdülhakim Güven (paragraph 18 above). Mr Şahin said that he neither knew this person nor had had any relations with him. He had not been to several of the prisons cited by Mr Güven in his connection, as a verification of prison visiting records could establish. 24. Throughout this time the applicants had to leave their children with neighbours. 25. In the indictment issued on 22 December 1993, Arzu Şahin was charged, inter alia, with “drawing up documents belittling the Turkish State and faxing them to human rights organisations in European countries”. This was understood to be a reference to Mrs Şahin's role in the preparation of the Özgür Gundem newspaper's application to the Commission, submitted in December 1993 (Özgür Gündem v. Turkey, no. 23144/93, ECHR 2000III). 26. Mr and Mrs Şahin were released on 17 February 1994 after a hearing before the State Security Court. Mr Şahin claimed that these proceedings