The protection of human rights in custody and pre-trial detention lies at the core of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is also a key commitment under Turkey’s Action Plan on Human Rights (2021-2023), in particular Goal 5.2, which foresees a series of measures towards “Raising standards regarding the application of judicial supervision measures.”
To support anticipated reforms, a comparative legal research was conducted with the support of the European Union and the Council of Europe. It analysed relevant legislation and practices in place in five Council of Europe member states reflecting various legal traditions (Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom with a focus on England and Wales).
Key findings of this extensive research, which mobilised senior researchers in various countries, were presented at the occasion of an expert panel held in Ankara in co-operation with the Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Justice. A broad range of issues were covered, including application of the principles of necessity and proportionality of arrest and custody, the existence of specific catalogues of crimes, access to the case file by defendants, maximum duration of pre-trial detention, as well as the scope and application of the right to compensation.
Following a synthesis by its author and analyses by a lawyer of the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and prominent Turkish academics, a lively questions and answers session ensued with the active participation of more than 200 Turkish judges, prosecutors and lawyers attending in person and online.
The event was the last in a series of roundtable meetings and seminars focusing on the right to liberty and security and the right to a fair trial, which were organised within the scope of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.
