11th Judicial Package passed in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey: A path to release for tens of thousands of inmates

The General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) has completed the deliberations on the second part of the "Draft Law on Amendments to the Turkish Penal Code and Certain Laws," publicly known as the "11th Judicial Package."PATH TO RELEASE FOR 50,000 PRISONERSOPENEDArticle 27 of the 11th Judicial Package, publicly known as the "Covid-19 regulation," which paves the way for the release of 50,000 prisoners, has been accepted. Thus, those convicted of crimes committed on or before July 31, 2023, will be transferred from closed prisons to open prisons, and from open prisons to probation 3 years earlier.

EARTHQUAKE CRIMESEXCLUDED FROM SCOPE

On the other hand, earthquake-related crimes were kept out of the scope. Consequently, those responsible for the collapse of buildings and deaths in earthquakes will not be able to benefit from the 'early release' regulation, in addition to those convicted of terrorism and organized crimes, intentional homicide against descendants, ancestors, siblings, spouses, divorced spouses, women, children, or individuals unable to defend themselves due to physical or mental conditions, as well as sexual assault and child sexual abuse.WHAT HAPPENED?AKP Group Chairman Abdullah Güler and MHP Group Deputy Chairman Erkan Akçay, regarding those who lost their lives in the earthquakes

had met with the relatives of those who lost their lives.

During the discussions, it was requested that those responsible for the buildings destroyed in the earthquakes and the deathsbe excluded from the scope of the regulation in the Bill on Amendments to the Turkish Penal Code and Certain Laws, known in the public eye as the "11th Judicial Package," which allows convicts for crimes committed on or beforeJuly 31, 2023, to transfer fromclosed prisons to open prisons, and from open prisons to supervised release 3 years earlier. Listening to theearthquake victims,Güler and Akçayhad initiatedtechnicalworktoexclude those responsible for the buildings destroyed and the deaths caused in the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes on February 6, 2023, and in earthquakes that occurred in previous years, primarily inElazığ and İzmir,from the scope of the regulation.

Listening to the earthquake victims, Güler and Akçay, regarding the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes on February 6, 2023, and the earthquakes that occurred inprevious years in

other provinces, primarily inElazığ and İzmir, had initiated technical work to exclude those responsible for the buildings destroyed and the deathsfrom the scope of theregulation.They had initiatedtechnical workfor this purpose.