ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 89 572. Article 168 of the Turkish Criminal Code provided as follows: “Whoever establishes armed organisations or bands or undertakes the duty of chief or command or any particular duty in such organisations or bands, with the purpose of committing the felonies defined in Articles 125, 131, 146, 147, 149 and 156, shall be punished by heavy imprisonment for not less than 10 years.” 573. Article 169 of the Turkish Criminal Code provided as follows: “Whoever in circumstances other than those prescribed in Articles 64 and 65, knowingly gives shelter, assistance, provisions, arms or ammunition to [a terrorist] organisation or band or facilitates their actions shall be punished by heavy imprisonment from 3 to 5 years.” The offences in Articles 168 and 169 were deemed terrorist crimes under Article 3 of the Prevention of Terrorism Law 1991, Article 5 of which increased by one half any punishment imposed (see the judgment of 23 September 1998 in Demir and Others v. Turkey, Reports of Judgments and decisions 1998-VI, §§ 19-20). Proceedings could be suspended and subsequently dropped if no crime of the same or more serious kind was committed by the offender within a five year period (Law No. 4616 on conditional release, the suspension of proceedings or the execution of sentences in respect of crimes committed before 23 April 1999). C. Interrogations and statements 574. Reflecting Article 17 of the Constitution, Article 135(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (as amended in 1992 by Law No. 3842) required that an accused's testimony be given of his/her own free will and that anything obstructing this freedom would be illegal and render the testimony invalid. (Law No. 4449, which came into force on 26 August 1999, increased the penalties for such acts.) 575. The Turkish Criminal Code made it a criminal offence: – to deprive an individual unlawfully of his or her liberty (Article 179 generally, Article 181 in respect of civil servants); – to issue threats (Article 191); or – to subject an individual to torture or ill-treatment (Articles 243 and 245). 576. The authorities' obligations in respect of conducting a preliminary investigation into acts or omissions capable of constituting such offences that had been brought to their attention were governed by Articles 151 to 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Offences could be reported to the authorities or the security forces, as well as to Public Prosecutors. The complaint could be made in writing or orally. If it were made orally, the authority had to record it (Article 151). 577. A Public Prosecutor who was informed by any means whatsoever of a situation that gave rise to the suspicion that an offence had been committed was obliged to investigate the facts in order to decide whether or