6 ALTUĞ TANER AKÇAM v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 3. Statistical information regarding prosecutions under Article 301 27. The Government submitted statistical information which indicated the situation by 5 November 2008. They noted that following the amendments made to Article 301 of the Criminal Code on 8 May 2008 there had been a significant decrease in prosecutions under Article 301. In this connection, of the seventy authorisation requests made by public prosecutors to commence criminal proceedings under Article 301, the Ministry of Justice had granted only three. 28. The Government further pointed out that between 2003 and 2007 the number of sets of criminal proceedings instituted under Article 301 (Article 159/1 of the former Criminal Code) was 1,894. Of those, 744 cases had resulted in convictions and 1,142 in acquittals; 193 cases were still pending following the Court of Cassation’s decisions to quash the firstinstance courts’ judgments. 29. In their supplementary observations dated 30 October 2009, the Government noted that between 8 May 2008 and 30 September 2009 the Ministry of Justice had received 955 requests for authorisation to institute criminal proceedings under Article 301. The Ministry had refused 878 of these requests but granted 77. In this connection, the Government furnished the Court with sample copies of decisions of refusal issued by the Ministry of Justice. It appears from these decisions that the Ministry of Justice extensively relied on the case-law of the Court in cases concerning Article 10 when refusing public prosecutors’ requests for authorisation to institute criminal proceedings under Article 301 of the Criminal Code. The Government further noted that in 244 cases where the Ministry of Justice refused authorisation to institute criminal proceedings, the criminal complaints mainly concerned publications in the press. 4. Statistical and other information provided by the applicant in respect of prosecutions under Article 301 30. The European Commission’s 2008 Progress Report on Turkey stated:1 “Following the adoption of the amendments to Article 301, Turkish courts had forwarded, by September [2008], 257 cases to the Minister of Justice for prior authorisation. This requirement concerns cases at the investigation stage or for which judicial proceedings have started. By September, the Ministry had reviewed 163 cases and refused to grant permission to proceed in 126 cases. However, the wording of Article 301 remains largely the same and the prior authorisation requirement opens up the possibility that the article will become subject to political consideration. So far, the Minister of Justice authorised the criminal 1. See pages 15-16 of the progress report at http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/press_corner/keydocuments/reports_nov2008/turkey_p rogress_report_en.pdf (Annex, Document 13).