Dion Ross Bremner, the applicant in Bremner v Turkey [2015] ECHR 877, is an Australian national who lives in New South Wales. The case concerns the broadcast of a television documentary which included secretly-filmed footage of Mr Bremner and resulted in his prosecution as a “foreign pedlar of religion” engaged in secret activities in Turkey.

The facts

At the material time in 1997 Mr Bremner was a correspondent for an Australian newspaper and worked for a Christian bookshop. In June 1997 the producers of the programme had been contacted by a certain AN: he had responded to an advertisement offering free books and, in return, Mr Bremner had sent him some books about Christianity. Following telephone calls between AN and Mr Bremner, a meeting was arranged and filmed covertly. Continue reading →