CENTRAL NEWS
Prisoner releases have begun in Turkey, as announced in a press statement on March 31 by AKP Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Cahit Özkan, after a discriminatory law was passed that will see as many as 90,000 prisoners set free to reduce the coronavirus pandemic’s threat to the country’s overcrowded prisons.
Images published by Turkey’s state-run agency saw the first busloads of prisoners being released after parliament approved the discriminatory Criminal Enforcement bill early on Tuesday.
Opposition parties and human rights activists, including Amnesty International, have vehemently opposed the bill, which was drafted by the fascist Erdogan dictatorship as it ignores political prisoners, criminals of thought and arrested journalists – among them are people who have committed petty crimes such as defamation – a crime which rarely results in persecution let alone imprisonment.
The news of the prisoners’ release arrived shortly after Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül admitted that the virus had spread to prisons, infecting dozens of personnel and inmates, one of whom has died.
In the country as a whole, COVID-19 has continued to spread at a steady pace, with 4,062 new cases recorded on Tuesday. Before the release of prisoners, the Turkish state had rejected claims that the pandemic had reached its overcrowded and unhygienic prisons, with local prison administrators issuing disciplinary punishments to prisoners who leaked the information to the outside.
What is the much-debated Criminal Enforcement Bill?
The law sees the release of some inmates over 65, women with children aged six and under and ill prisoners who cannot take care of themselves while toughening sentences on those who organize criminal groups for the purpose of monetary profit.
Accordingly, the law that has entered into force stipulates that the sentences of the convicts given 3 years or less in prison on intentional offenses shall be executed in open penal institutions, except for the ones who have been convicted of terror crimes, establishing and leading or being a member of an organization and offenses relating to organizational activities and the offenses committed against sexual inviolability.
The administrative and monitoring board decisions pertaining to the transfer of the above mentioned convicts as well as the ones sentenced to 10 or more years in prison and convicted for willful killing and production and trafficking of drugs from closed penal institutions to open ones will be executed following the verdict of the administrative judge.
When the requests of the above convicts for transfer to an open penal institution, supervised release and release on probation are to be examined by the administrative and monitoring boards, the boards will be chaired by a chief public prosecutor or a public prosecutor to be appointed by him or her.
With the enacted law, the period to benefit from supervised release has been increased from 1 to 3 years. However, these offenses have been excluded:
In terms of offenses committed until March 30, 2020; wilful killing; wilful injury or resulting aggravated injury of lineal kinship, spouses or siblings and those not in the physical or mental condition to defend themselves; torture, torment offenses and offenses committed against sexual inviolability; production and trafficking of narcotic and stimulant drugs; and other offenses within the broad scope of Anti-Terror-Law.
Criticism by international rights organizations
Releasing a statement shortly after the bill passed Parliament yesterday, Amnesty International’s Turkey Campaigner Milena Buyum noted that “prison release law would leave innocent and vulnerable prisoners at risk of COVID-19.”
Buyum briefly said: “Whilst any steps to reduce chronic overcrowding in Turkey’s prisons are welcome, it is deeply disappointing that tens of thousands of prisoners in pretrial detention – a measure that must only be used when there are no alternatives to custody – will not be considered for release.
Those convicted in unfair trials under Turkey’s overly broad anti-terrorism laws are also now condemned to face the prospect of infection from this deadly disease.”
Sharing some details about the law on criminal enforcement, the organization has also indicated that “the new measures do not allow the release of several categories of prisoners,” including the following:
“Those held in pretrial detention, i.e. those yet to be convicted of any crime; people convicted under overly broad anti-terrorism laws, including journalists, lawyers, political and human rights activists who have been imprisoned merely for speaking out; and even those at heightened risk, including older prisoners and those with underlying health conditions convicted under anti-terrorism laws.”
