As part of an eighth judicial package, Turkish lawmakers are near completing a draft that will modify dozens of articles, which will increase legal fines and prison sentences, among other terms, local media reported.
The legislation is amending a total of 105 articles in 22 different laws set to take effect on rulings issued after April 1, 2024.
It includes changes in the terms of supervised release, immaterial compensation and defamation cases.
According to the draft, the threshold for legal fines will go up from TL 20 ($0.69) per day to TL 100, while its maximum rate will be raised from TL 100 to TL 500.
Moreover, the finality limit for legal fines imposed directly by court will climb from TL 3,000 to TL 15,000. Claims for non-pecuniary damages will come to the Compensation Commission instead of the Constitutional Court (AYM).
The move aims to mitigate the workload of the Constitutional Court by administering new tasks to the Compensation Commission.
For instance, the commission will be permitted to process immaterial compensation petitions filed with the claim investigations, proceedings in penal law, and trials in private and administrative law that were not concluded in a reasonable period.
If the regional administrative court in the capital of Ankara accepts appeals to the commission’s rulings, these will be final.
Furthermore, the commission will start accepting individual applications pending in the Constitutional Court alleging that the right to trial within a reasonable period was violated or others the court dismissed on lack of grounds justifying any investigation.
In cases of supervision release, the probation period will not exceed three years, according to the new regulations.
Other terms will be modified to ensure every convict will serve a sentence in proportion to their crime instead of a one-year standard sentence. Therefore, the convict will stay at a correctional facility for the duration of at least 40% of their sentence. This translates to at least 12 days in a penal institution for someone handed a one-month sentence.
The changes aim to eliminate the perception of impunity as even convicts who received short sentences will be forced to serve time.
Additionally, the regulation is introducing pre-payments in defamation cases, while extending the period for objections and appeal applications from seven days to two weeks.
If the crime of defamation is committed in a voice, text or video message, it will be excluded from the scope of mediation and covered by pre-payments.
Moreover, the period for a complaint will not surpass a year in a defamation crime subject to matter.
Plaintiffs will be allowed to file for appeal against the rulings of high criminal courts regarding compensation demands. The verdicts from regional courts of justice too will be considered final.
The Turkish government has been implementing a series of judicial reforms meant to bring up to date the current Constitution, which was adopted in 1982 following a military coup and has since been widely censured for its deficiencies.
During President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s two-decade governance, several legal plans have been put into effect, including on human rights, freedom of speech, rights for women and the disabled, as well as democratic standards, fortification of the rule of law and independence of the judiciary
Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is also looking to introduce a brand-new constitution with a draft likely to end up in Parliament by 2024.