MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed- The Turkish parliament passed an early parole law on April 14, 2020, aimed at reducing the inmate population of the country’s overcrowded prisons due to the pandemic. The legislation excluded political prisoners. As of January 1, a new amendment was made to the Law on the Execution and Security Measures. After the new amendment called “The Evaluation of the Good Behavior of the Convicts” entered into force, many prisoners haven’t been released from prison for “not maintaining good behavior” although they have served their prison sentence. Drawing attention to the fact that the conditions for good behavior are not objective criteria or approved by experts, Lawyers Association for Freedom (ÖHD) General executive Rengin Ergül indicated that the administrative and monitoring board consists of prison personnel, such as prison psychologists, social workers, and prosecutors.

“Political prisoners aren’t released”

Rengin Ergül reported that the administrative and monitoring board mostly implements this amendment against political prisoners, “Political prisoners aren’t released from prison for not “maintaining good behavior” in prison.”

“They intend to break the political will”

Although the definition of good behavior is not mentioned in the law, it has some conditions, “The following criteria have been added to these conditions by the amendment; regret the committed crime, not having the risk of committing crimes again, having the habit of reading books in prison, or receiving rewards in prison. These are not very objective criteria. Therefore, the reasons for the suspension of release cannot depend on such criteria. Demanding political prisoners to regret means they intend to break their political will. The conditions for good behavior are not objective criteria.”

The board members generally make unfavorable decisions against the prisoners, Rengin Ergül said that they first apply to the judges of execution to reverse the decision, “If the judges don't reverse the decision, we apply to the Constitutional Court as a last resort. The judges of execution investigate the incident but without holding a hearing. When the judge doesn’t hold a hearing, we apply to the Constitutional Court as a last resort. The Constitutional Court hasn’t ruled yet. The criteria should be applied for crimes committed after the amendment entered into force not before.”

“Prisoners are punished again”

The prisoners are informed about the decision against them when they are about to be released from prison, Rengin Ergül said that the prisoners and their families are seriously affected by these decisions. “The prisoners are punished again without standing trial. The prisoners and their relatives are disappointed when they learn the decisions late. We object to the decisions very late because we learn the decisions late.”