8th Judicial Package

The Draft Law on Amendments to Certain Laws for the Purpose of Increasing the Effectiveness of Judicial Services, which contains new regulations, will soon be on the agenda of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).

WHEN WILL THE 8TH JUDICIAL PACKAGE BE RELEASED?

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç answered questions regarding the new judicial package, referred to as the 8th Judicial Package, during a live broadcast on a television channel. Minister Tunç stated that the work on the 8th Judicial Package is in the draft stage and will be presented to members of parliament in the TBMM soon.

Minister Tunç stated, "The timeline will not be very long. We are currently in the election calendar, but before the Parliament breaks for the election, without taking a break, around the end of February, it will not be left to March, it will be discussed in Parliament around mid-February."

So, what kind of changes will there be in the new judicial package?

PROPORTIONAL REGULATION IN PROBATION

Stating that the 8th Judicial Package also includes proportional regulations for probation, Tunç pointed out that the perception of impunity is widespread in society and that this perception must be eliminated, and continued with the following words:

"We need to eliminate this perception. We have regulations that will eliminate the perception of impunity. If someone has received a two-year sentence, the conditional release period expires after one year. When the conditional release period is one year, the probation period is also one year; then there is no sentence left to serve from two years. Therefore, a person who receives a two-year sentence would not have spent any time in prison. Such a situation, of course, especially for crimes with sentences under two years, under three years, creates a perception that 'he committed a crime and got away with it'. The regulation we are making here is that we want to introduce a ratio instead of a one-year fixed probation."

Stating that with the new regulation to be made, they want only one-fifth of the 6-month conditional release rate of a person who receives a one-year sentence to be probation, Tunç added, "In other words, we are saying that they should have spent at least 5 months of this in prison. This is our proposal in the draft. Of course, it is at the discretion of our members of parliament."

REGULATION ON APPEAL PERIODS

Minister Tunç mentioned that in the current regulation, there are different appeal and objection periods in labor, civil, and criminal courts, and stated that regulations regarding appeal periods will also be included in the new judicial package.

Tunç said, "Now these questions will also be eliminated. There will be a single answer. Two weeks. The period for objection and appeal in all cases will be two weeks. We say that the period should start from the notification and they should be able to appeal within two weeks."

He also announced that with the new judicial package, a "Compensation Commission" will be established for applications regarding the claim that a trial was not conducted within a reasonable time, in accordance with the pilot decision of the Constitutional Court (AYM).

IS THERE A GENERAL AMNESTY IN THE 8TH JUDICIAL PACKAGE?

A question was asked about whether a general amnesty regulation for prisoners would be included in the new Judicial Package draft. In his response, Minister Tunç stated that such work is not on the agenda.

ARTICLES OF THE 8TH JUDICIAL PACKAGE

We are in the final stages for the Draft Law on Amendments to Certain Laws for the Purpose of Increasing the Effectiveness of Judicial Services.

Minister Tunç made statements saying, "I can express this, there is a draft consisting of more than 60 articles. Our members of parliament can add new ones to these or may not find them appropriate. The discretion is theirs."

The expected articles are as follows:

• Women who marry as of January 24, 2024, will now be able to use only their own surname instead of their husband's surname.

• The mother will be granted the opportunity to file a lawsuit for the denial of paternity between the father and the child.

• The names of those who adopt a child can be written as the mother and father's name on the adoptee's identity.

• It will be possible to apply to the appellate court against the decisions of deferment of the announcement of the verdict (HAGB) given after April 1, 2024.

• The amount determined as the equivalent of one day in the calculation of the prepayment amount for crimes requiring imprisonment will be increased from 30 TL to 100 TL.

• The finality limit for directly imposed judicial fines will be increased from 3 thousand TL to 15 thousand TL.

• It will be ensured that the convict spends one-fifth of their conditional release period on probation. Thus, every convict will serve at least 40 percent of their sentence in prison.

• The probation period will be limited to 3 years.

• Women convicts who have children in the 0-6 age group, those who cannot sustain their lives alone due to a severe illness, disability, or old age they are exposed to, and those who have completed the age of 70 will be able to benefit from probation if they spend three-fifths of the time they need to spend in prisons for conditional release in penal institutions.

• A regulation will be made regarding the objection path to the coercive imprisonment regulated in the law on combating violence against women.

• The opportunity to apply to the Compensation Commission will be introduced for individual applications that have been made with the claim that the right to be tried within a reasonable time has been violated and are pending at the Constitutional Court as of the date the law enters into force, as well as for individual applications for which the Constitutional Court has decided to dismiss on the grounds that there is no reason to justify the continuation of the examination.

• Convicts to whom the recidivism provisions are applied for the second time will be able to benefit from conditional release if they spend three-quarters of their sentences in the penal institution with good behavior. Currently, those who are repeat offenders for the second time cannot benefit from parole; they could be released after staying in prisons for the entire duration of their sentences. With the proposal, the way will be paved for convicts to stay in prison for three-quarters of their sentences for which they are repeat offenders for the second time, rather than the entire duration. Convicts who are repeat offenders for the second time and cannot benefit from probation will also be able to benefit from probation.

• Lawyers with 20 years of seniority in their profession will be able to become mediators without an exam.

• By making amendments to the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law and the Code of Civil Procedure, amounts below 1,000 TL will not be taken into account in the amounts determined as a result of increasing the monetary limits at the revaluation rate.

• Against the decisions given by the court of first instance upon the reversal decision of the Regional Court of Justice and the decisions given again upon the reversal decision of the Court of Cassation, it will be possible to apply for appeal and cassation according to the monetary limits valid on the date of the first decision.

• It is regulated that the complaint period for the crime of insult, which is subject to investigation and prosecution upon complaint, cannot exceed one year from the date of the crime in any case, thus determining the maximum complaint period for this crime.

• Conciliation will not be possible for the crime of insult committed through an audio, written, or visual message addressing the victim.

After the draft work for the new judicial package is completed, the draft law will come to the TBMM. After receiving approval from the General Assembly, it will be published in the Official Gazette and enter into force.

To evaluate the 8th Judicial Package,

4-5 years ago, when Abdulhamit Gül was the Minister of Justice of the time, a proportional regulation had come for the execution of sentences. However, somehow, this regulation, which was in the package, did not receive acceptance in the parliament when it went down to the parliament and did not become law.

First of all, it is necessary to distinguish two issues in criminal law from each other; first, the criminal justice system where the perception of impunity arises, and second, the execution justice system.

The criminal justice system, as Minister Tunç also said, is the perception that "no one enters prison for the sentence they received in court". So where do we see this? With both probation and conditional release practices, when a person commits a crime, as in the example given by Minister Tunç, when a person who received a 2-year prison sentence was invited to the penal institution by the Public Prosecutor for this sentence, 1 year of this went directly to probation, while 1 year benefited from conditional release. As such, the person was released without serving any sentence by entering and exiting the prison. This also led to the ineffectiveness of criminal court decisions.

As I stated above, the same regulations were made 5 years ago in the judicial package that I also participated in the preparatory work for, together with the Ministry of Justice. In this sense, the regulation that is intended to be brought in the new judicial package draft, as it was done before, is this; a person who has received a 2-year sentence should be taken into account in the execution after serving 1/5 of the prison sentence with conditional release and probation provisions. For example, a person sentenced to 30 days in prison will stay in prison for 1/5 of the time, i.e., 6 days, and will then be able to benefit from conditional release and probation provisions. If this situation is implemented, everyone who is punished with a prison sentence and whose sentence is not deferred will enter prison. This is the normal thing. This will destroy the perception of impunity in society and especially in people who commit crimes, and effectiveness will be achieved in the fight against crime.

However, in this judicial package, as in the previous ones, there is no regulation to strengthen judicial independence. In a country where judicial independence is not ensured and judges and prosecutors do not have geographical security, all these regulations can unfortunately also be used as an opportunity for dissidents to be sent to prison directly within the scope of enemy criminal law practice. Moreover, we encounter enemy criminal law practices almost every day in our country. It must be said with regret that this danger will always exist in a politicized judicial system. For example, the "geographical security of judges and prosecutors", which was completely abolished by this political power, has not been brought back in any judicial package regulation. Again, the fact that the Minister of Justice is the President of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), while he should be independent, is another important factor that removes trust in the judiciary. The judiciary in Turkey is not independent even in appearance. In summary, judicial packages that do not include regulations that strengthen judicial independence only contain palliative measures. For this reason, as it happens every time, the increase in the effectiveness of the judiciary does not happen. Indeed, despite all these judicial packages, trust in the judiciary in our country has never improved and has become even worse after every judicial package.

On the other hand, the execution justice system is also of importance. Prisons are not places where people are filled. The main purpose in execution law is rehabilitation. In prisons, many trainings such as social, psychosocial, anger management, and spiritual support are provided for the reintegration of convicts into society. When participation in these trainings and, for example, reading books are done, convicts receive points, and when they appear before the administrative observation board in the future, they are evaluated in terms of whether they have been rehabilitated in this system.

I will evaluate the 8th judicial package further when it comes to parliament.