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Judges, Prosecutors Face Unprecedented Mobbing, Penal Judge Of Peace Says

29.10.2014 16:45

A penal judge of peace in Eskişehir province who recently applied to the Constitutional Court asking for the abolishment of the controversial system of having criminal judges of peace has said Turkish judges and prosecutors are facing unprecedented mobbing over their rulings and actions. Kemal Karanfil caught wide public attention earlier this month after he asked the top court to abolish the penal courts of peace introduced by the government following graft probes that went public on Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 of last year and implicated senior government officials. Karanfil continued his criticisms on Monday on the adalet.org website.

A penal judge of peace in Eskişehir province who recently applied to the Constitutional Court asking for the abolishment of the controversial system of having criminal judges of peace has said Turkish judges and prosecutors are facing unprecedented mobbing over their rulings and actions.
Kemal Karanfil caught wide public attention earlier this month after he asked the top court to abolish the penal courts of peace introduced by the government following graft probes that went public on Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 of last year and implicated senior government officials.
Karanfil continued his criticisms on Monday on the adalet.org website. “I do not remember any period when judges and prosecutors have faced so much mobbing over their rulings and legal actions in the past as they face today or when those who insult others were ever so spoiled,” he said.
His statements were in response to highly critical and even insulting comments from the pro-government media over his application to the top court. Karanfil said he filed the petition because he feared the possible consequences his country would be obliged to pay in the future over actions of the penal courts of peace. Saying that the top court unanimously decided to review the content of his appeal, Karanfil said despite the court's decision, a columnist from the pro-government Star daily, Elif Çakır, insulted him as well as members of the Constitutional Court, including its president, in a column published on Oct. 23. He said he had filed a criminal complaint against the writer.
“I do not know who will save the judges and prosecutors of the republic -- who are responsible for protecting the unity of the country and the state as well as the rights of the citizens -- from this oppression in the face of such reckless behavior from media bosses and some columnists,” Karanfil said.
The much-debated system of penal judges of peace, which came into effect in July, allocates rulings on detentions, arrests, seizures of goods and search warrants to criminal judges of peace during the investigative stage of such cases. The same judges are also authorized to handle appeals on these rulings. The system, which has been widely criticized for granting extraordinary powers to the judges, now seems to have obstructed the judicial system.
In his 10-page appeal, Karanfil said the system of penal judges of peace needs to be abolished based on the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which state that when there is an appeal against the ruling of a court, a higher court should handle the appeal. However, in the case of the penal judges of peace, it is another penal judge of peace who examines the appeal.
Previously, appealing the decisions of other judges on such issues would be brought before a panel of judges and a majority vote would be needed for a court to overrule a judge. But in the current system, a decision rendered by a single judge is sufficient.
Karanfil also said the new system makes launching an investigation against government members almost impossible, adding that this system aims to put the judiciary under the control of the government.
In July then-Prime Minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that penal judges of peace had been assigned to deal with a trial involving a “parallel structure,” a reference he uses for the faith-based Hizmet movement. “A trial [involving Hizmet] is set to begin soon. The trial will be handled by penal judges of peace. All evidence collected so far has proven that the ‘parallel structure' is a fact, not a rumor,” Erdoğan told reporters on July 20.

Ankara judge decries politicized judiciary

Meanwhile, in a similar move, İbrahim Ekdemir, a senior judge at the Ankara 10th Criminal Court of First Instance, on Tuesday issued a press statement in which he criticized recent politicization of the membership of the judiciary. Stating that he had served as a judge and prosecutor for 40 years in various regions of Turkey, Ekdemir said he is sad to see that judges and prosecutors are sitting at separate tables according to their political views during lunch. Noting that members of the judiciary had been labeled as supporters of some groups before the election of new members to the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) earlier this month, Ekdemir said the environment of polarization did not change after the election. “Members of the judiciary cannot participate in politics. They cannot openly express their political views and make decisions based on their political views. This is a universal principle,” he said.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)



 
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