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 Assistant Professor Vahit Bıçak, head of the Prime Ministry's human rights department, said that citizens need to be informed of what their rights are, noting that his office had prepared a brochure on the rights of criminal suspects and the accused in order to minimize claims of torture and mistreatment.
(ANKARA - Turkish Daily News, Friday, August 26, 2005)
A brochure listing the rights of suspects and accused individuals is to be distributed by the Prime Ministry and local human rights boards
Assistant Professor Vahit Bıçak, head of the Prime Ministry's human rights department, said that citizens need to be informed of what their rights are, noting that his office had prepared a brochure on the rights of criminal suspects and the accused in order to minimize claims of torture and mistreatment.
Bıçak said the proportion of suspects and the accused to the general population was high in Turkey. In 1986, 1.08 million people were considered suspects or were accused of wrongdoing, while this figure increased to 2.11 million in 2003, he said. "Based on population, the percentage of suspects was 2.07 in 1986 and 2.97 in 2003. Every year, 3 percent of the nation is accused or suspected of committing a crime. This is not a marginal problem. It concerns everyone, and the figures are too high," he said.
Bıçak said some accused and suspects were in danger of being tortured or mistreated. He made reference to the government's "zero-tolerance policy on torture" and said all suspects and the accused need to be aware of their rights under the law. The law affords specific rights to prevent torture and mistreatment, he said, adding that these rights had to be respected so people aren't forced to confess to something they didn't do.
Brochure on rights:
Bıçak said the Prime Ministry was focusing on the need to broaden awareness of rights and freedoms and had prepared a brochure called "Rights of Suspects and the Accused under the Protection of Provincial and Municipal Human Rights Boards."
"People usually cannot distinguish between suspects and those who have been accused. The media is also guilty of this. Sometimes they portray a person under investigation as a criminal. The number of those accused and suspects is quite high, but courts end up convicting only around 50,000 people every year. One can assume that many investigations are conducted needlessly," said Bıçak.
He said people need to be taught about their rights and that the brochure they prepared is a fundamental step toward preventing mistreatment. "On the cover it says, 'Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty,' as stated in Article 38 of the Constitution."
He said just as important as granting such rights to people is that people are aware of them. "People have many rights, but I wonder how many of them really know about them. They need to learn."
Bıçak said they initially printed 300,000 copies of the book and sent two-thirds of them to provincial and municipal human rights boards for distribution, with the rest being handed out by the Prime Ministry.
Rights:
Among the rights the book makes reference to:
- No one can be accused retrospectively of an act that was, but no longer is, a crime under current law.
- Criminal liability is personal. Relatives or friends of the suspect or the accused cannot be held responsible for the actions of others.
- Everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty.
- If the rights of suspects and the accused are violated and the local judiciary fails to resolve the issue, the aggrieved has the right to take the matter to international courts.
- Suspects or accused individuals;
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- - cannot be treated differently due to their language, religion, race, sect, color, gender, political beliefs, national or social origin, or economic or social stature.
- have the right of religious freedom.
- have the right to take the matter to international courts in the event of their rights being violated and the local judiciary failing to resolve the issue.
- cannot be extradited if they are citizens. If he or she is living overseas, he or she cannot be prevented from entering the country.
- cannot be incarcerated without reason.
- have the right to notify someone in a timely fashion if taken into custody.
- have the right to know what crime(s) they supposedly committed.
- have the right to cross-examine and challenge prosecution witnesses.
- have the right to the same access and resources as the prosecution.
- have the right to remain silent, with the silence being no indication of culpability.
- cannot be forced to provide evidence against himself or herself or his or her relatives by law.
- have the right to provide testimony of his or her free will. Suspects and accused individuals cannot be subjected to mistreatment, deprived of medical care, be deceived or subject to other factors that may impair free will. |
