Draft bill prepared to beat trial delays
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Goksel Bozkurt
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 29, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - If the bill that places an expiry date on trials is passed into law, the judges dealing with the Ergenekon case would have to abide by the condition of ending trials within a ’reasonable’ period. The draft does however, leave the determination of ’reasonable’ to the judges.
Parliament’s Justice Committee has reacted to criticism over Turkey’s over extended trial-lengths, by drafting a law that could have implications in the ongoing Ergenekon case if passed.
If the bill putting an expiry date on trials is adopted, the judges of the Ergenekon case would have to abide by the condition of ending trials within a "conceivable" period.
"A judge is responsible for hearing a case in a coordinated way, to conclude it within reasonable time and to prevent unnecessary costs," the draft code of civil procedure read.
The draft law left the determination of what exactly is "reasonable time" to the judge’s discretion. "Duration of the cases will be determined by judges in line with the file’s content and number of suspects," the draft noted.
The legal grounds for the draft refer to the sixth article of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to a fair trial. Overextension of trial periods leads people to lose their faith in the law, the legal reason also stressed, adding that rulings that arrived too late were mostly not connected to lives and their execution yields injustice rather than justice.
Speaking to Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, the head of the Justice Commission, Ahmet İyimaya said the draft could be adopted before the local elections end in March. He pointed to the system as the reason for prolonged trial periods. "This amendment will affect all the ongoing cases," he maintained. The law will thus put a restraint on the judges of the controversial Ergenekon case.
The Ergenekon operation raised eyebrows with its first wave of detentions in 2007 when police found hand grenades at a shanty house in Istanbul’s Ümraniye district. The operation’s legal case began hearings Oct. 20, 2008. Experts say the case, with a 2,500-page indictment and an increasing number of suspects, may continue for many years.
Turkey’s prolonged cases have also drawn criticism from the European Court of Human Rights and Amnesty International in the past.
An example is the Dev-Yol case, which began in 1982. The case, which includes 471 files and 723 suspects, still waits to be reheard at the Supreme Court of Appeals. The Susurluk case is another prolonged case of great importance, as it aimed to unravel a network of mafia, politicians and police. The scandal surfaced with a car crash in Balıkesir. The victims included a police chief, a parliament deputy and a hitman, revealing a relationship between the government, police and organized crime. The term’s police chief Mehmet Ağar was accused in relation to the incident but as a deputy with a legal immunity, he could not be heard. The case, which started in 1996, gained a new dimension when Ağar could not enter Parliament in the 2007 elections. Ağar’s hearing has recently started.
If the bill putting an expiry date on trials is adopted, the judges of the Ergenekon case would have to abide by the condition of ending trials within a "conceivable" period.
"A judge is responsible for hearing a case in a coordinated way, to conclude it within reasonable time and to prevent unnecessary costs," the draft code of civil procedure read.
The draft law left the determination of what exactly is "reasonable time" to the judge’s discretion. "Duration of the cases will be determined by judges in line with the file’s content and number of suspects," the draft noted.
The legal grounds for the draft refer to the sixth article of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to a fair trial. Overextension of trial periods leads people to lose their faith in the law, the legal reason also stressed, adding that rulings that arrived too late were mostly not connected to lives and their execution yields injustice rather than justice.
Speaking to Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, the head of the Justice Commission, Ahmet İyimaya said the draft could be adopted before the local elections end in March. He pointed to the system as the reason for prolonged trial periods. "This amendment will affect all the ongoing cases," he maintained. The law will thus put a restraint on the judges of the controversial Ergenekon case.
The Ergenekon operation raised eyebrows with its first wave of detentions in 2007 when police found hand grenades at a shanty house in Istanbul’s Ümraniye district. The operation’s legal case began hearings Oct. 20, 2008. Experts say the case, with a 2,500-page indictment and an increasing number of suspects, may continue for many years.
Turkey’s prolonged cases have also drawn criticism from the European Court of Human Rights and Amnesty International in the past.
An example is the Dev-Yol case, which began in 1982. The case, which includes 471 files and 723 suspects, still waits to be reheard at the Supreme Court of Appeals. The Susurluk case is another prolonged case of great importance, as it aimed to unravel a network of mafia, politicians and police. The scandal surfaced with a car crash in Balıkesir. The victims included a police chief, a parliament deputy and a hitman, revealing a relationship between the government, police and organized crime. The term’s police chief Mehmet Ağar was accused in relation to the incident but as a deputy with a legal immunity, he could not be heard. The case, which started in 1996, gained a new dimension when Ağar could not enter Parliament in the 2007 elections. Ağar’s hearing has recently started.