Published on 10 June 2025
 
SECOND SECTION
Application no. 19092/20
Abdurrahman KAVUN against Türkiye
and 2 other applications
(see list appended)
communicated on 26 May 2025
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
All the applications listed below (see appendix) concern the refusal of the prison authorities to send or deliver the applicants’ correspondence. In applications nos. 19092/20 and 2907/25, the prison authorities refused to dispatch letters sent to the applicants by their close family members. In application no. 7188/24, the authorities refused to send a letter written by the applicant to a journalist in which he requested the publication of a rectification after the appearance of an article in the daily newspaper Hürriyet that involved some allegedly false news about him.
The prison authorities based their decisions on section 68 of Law no. 5275 on the enforcement of sentences and preventive measures as well as sections 105 and 123 of the Regulation on the management of prisons and the execution of sentences and preventive measures. These provisions allow the prison authorities to monitor, censor and withhold incoming and outgoing correspondence of prisoners if it is deemed objectionable or a threat to prison order and security, targets officials, enables intra-organisational communication, contains false or misleading information or includes threats or insults.
Relying mainly on Article 8 of the Convention, the applicants complain of a breach of their right to respect for their correspondence by the prison authorities’ decisions.
 
 
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
Has there been an interference with the applicants’ right to respect for their correspondence, within the meaning of Article 8 § 1 of the Convention, by the interception of the letters to be sent by them or to be delivered to them by the prison authorities?
If so, was that interference in accordance with the law and necessary in terms of Article 8 § 2?
In particular, did the national authorities carry out a sufficient examination and adequate balancing of the applicants’ right to respect for their correspondence and other interests at stake in the light of the criteria set out and applied by the Court in similar cases (Halit Kara v. Türkiye, no. 60846/19, §§ 51-59, 12 December 2023)?
 
 
APPENDIX
No.
Application no.
Case name
Lodged on
Applicant
Year of Birth
Place of Residence
Nationality
ID No.
Represented by
1.
19092/20
Kavun v. Türkiye
22/04/2020
Abdurrahman KAVUN
1966
Osmaniye
Turkish
10875169580
Mehmet KARAKOÇ
2.
7188/24
Öcal v. Türkiye
15/02/2024
Hüseyin Hakan ÖCAL
1974
Ankara
Turkish
48514447850
 
3.
2907/25
Cansız v. Türkiye
31/12/2024
Serkan CANSIZ
1973
Bursa
Turkish
50890694742