ELCI AND OTHERS v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 1 In the case of Elci and Others v. Turkey, The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of: Sir Nicolas BRATZA, President, Mrs V. STRÁŽNICKÁ, Mr M. FISCHBACH, Mr R. MARUSTE, Mr S. PAVLOVSCHI, Mr L. GARLICKI, judges, Mr F. GÖLCÜKLÜ, ad hoc judge, and Mr M. O'BOYLE, Section Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 21October 2003, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: PROCEDURE 1. The case originated in two applications (nos. 23145/93 and 25091/94) against Turkey lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission”) under former Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by several Turkish nationals: Tahir Elçi, Nevzat Kaya, Şinasi Tur, Sabahattin Acar, Niyazi Çem, Mehmet Selim Kurbanoğlu, Meral Daniş Beştaş, Mesut Beştaş, Vedat Erten, Baki Demırhan, Arif Altinkalem, Gazanfer Abbasioğlu, Fuat Hayri Demır, Hüsniye Ölmez, İmam Şahin and Arzu Şahin (“the applicants”), on 21 December 1993 and 28 April 1994, respectively. The applications were joined on 9 September 1994. 2. The applicants were represented by Professor Kevin Boyle and Professor Françoise Hampson, succeeded by MM Timothy Otty and Philip Leach, lawyers practising in the United Kingdom, assisted by Mmes Alice Faure Walker and Anke Stock. The applicants also had the assistance of MM Mustafa Sezgin Tanrıkulu, Osman Baydemir and Mehmet Emin Aktar, three Turkish lawyers. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by various Agents, in particular MM. Aslan Gündüz, Şükrü Alpaslan and Münci Özmen. 3. The applicants, who are all Turkish lawyers, alleged that in November and December 1993 they were taken into detention by law enforcement officers on the pretext of involvement in criminal activities, but in reality because they had represented clients before the State Security Court and been involved in human rights work. They all claimed that their detention was unlawful (Article 5 of the Convention). Some of the applicants - Tahir Elçi, Şinasi Tur, Sabahattin Acar, Niyazi Çem, Mehmet Selim Kurbanoğlu, Meral Daniş Beştaş, Mesut Beştaş, Vedat Erten, and Hüsniye Ölmez - also