ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 65 466. The PKK had told her that she would receive PKK funding to open an office. She had a close friendship with Abdülhakim Güven. She denounced to the PKK a particular prosecutor who intimidated and hindered her and Ms Ölmez in their defence work, and had threatened them with arrest. There was talk of eliminating him. Discussions were held about defence tactics, as some accused PKK members were too passive before the State Security Court, and the training of remand prisoners was raised. 467. Mrs Beştaş copied the court case files of confessors and showed them to the organisation. She and her husband converted PKK money into Deutschmarks. They took oral and written messages to the women's section of the Mardin Elaziğ Central Closed Prison. They delivered other messages to the Diyarbakır E-Type Prison. On one occasion she received 400,000 lire for travel expenses. She had had a PKK brochure in her bag when she was apprehended, which she had intended to photocopy and give to her friends. j) Mesut Beştaş (Statement dated 6 December 1993 which, although signed, had been marked by Mr Beştaş with the letters “IMT”, to signify his refusal) 468. Mr Beştaş was recorded as stating that he had become a PKK sympathiser at school due to the second-class status of Kurds and the PKK goal of Kurdish freedom and independence. He cited several applicants who, together with him, defended PKK members on the instructions of the organisation. If one did not support the PKK, one had no State Security Court work. He acted as a PKK courier to and from prisons and gave several specific examples. Militiamen visited him at home to receive information about the cases of detained members. At Abdülhakim Güven's request, he conveyed a message hidden in an address book and a pen to PKK members and he brought messages back to Mr Güven. He changed millions of lire into Deutschmarks, given to him regularly once a month, which he handed over to a high-ranking PKK member. He accused many of the applicants of being PKK couriers too. On the day of his apprehension he was carrying an “ERNK” sealed message which he had forgotten to take out of his pocket. k) Vedat Erten (Statement dated 8 December 1993 and signed) 469. Mr Erten was recorded as stating that he had become a PKK sympathiser through the influence of propaganda disseminated when he was a student. It was a “fashionable” opinion to hold. He cited many of the applicants as having close relations with the PKK, advocating its policies and defending its interests. They all acted as prison couriers, meeting people like Abdülhakim Güven. Mr Erten was paid for his travel expenses. He gave