13/09/2024 Monitoring
In an information note following his visit to Türkiye from 11 to 14 June 2024, Stefan Schennach, one of the co-rapporteurs on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Türkiye, expressed a number of concerns relating to the independence of the judiciary, prison conditions, the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, and the practice of replacing democratically elected-mayors by governors.
The information note underlines, in particular, the problem of the structure of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors, the majority of whose members are appointed and dismissed by the executive and the legislative powers, raising doubts about the independence of the judiciary. The rapporteur also deplores “the resistance of Turkish courts or the Parliament to comply with the case-law of the Constitutional Court”, compounded by repeated verbal attacks on the Constitutional Court by public officials.
Another area of concern is overcrowding in penitentiary facilities and excessive length of prison sentences – often pronounced on the basis of terrorism-related offences – and pre-trial detention. Mr Schennach is particularly concerned about the isolation of certain prisoners, the presence of minors accompanying their parents, and the poor situation of the elderly or seriously ill.
The rapporteur reports in the information note on his visits to Marmara (Istanbul), Edirne, and Sincan (Ankara) prisons, where he met Osman Kavala, Selahattin Demirtaş, Murat Arslan, and Bekir Kaya.
“I strongly called on the Turkish authorities to take without delay all necessary measures to implement the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights concerning Mr Kavala and Mr Demirtaş,” Mr Schennach said, stressing that the resolving of these cases laid in the hands of the Turkish judiciary, which should be impartial and free from political pressure.