Following MLSA’s Rule 9.2 submission on the detention of journalists and freedom of expression violations in Turkey, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers asked Turkey to provide information on measures ensuring that detention decisions are based on concrete evidence and on restrictions limiting access to investigation files.
The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has called on Turkey to ensure the consistent judicial application of amendments to the country’s Criminal Procedure Code requiring detention decisions to be based on concrete evidence, while reiterating that pretrial detention should be used only as a measure of last resort.
The call came in decisions adopted during the Committee of Ministers’ 1563rd Human Rights (CM-DH) meeting held June 9-11, concerning the Alparslan Altan, Akgün and Nedim Şener groups of cases.
The decisions were announced following a Rule 9.2 submission filed in April by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA). In its submission, MLSA argued that Turkey had failed to effectively implement judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the Nedim Şener case group and that violations of freedom of expression continued.
In its decision, the Committee urged Turkey to ensure that amendments to Article 100 of the Criminal Procedure Code are applied consistently by the judiciary. The Committee stressed that courts should base detention decisions on concrete evidence and reiterated that detention should be imposed only as a last resort.
The Committee also requested that Turkey provide statistical data on the use of detention orders and judicial control measures, and supply information on measures taken or planned to prevent excessively long periods of pretrial detention.
Earlier, the Committee asked Turkish authorities to provide information on measures ensuring that detention decisions comply with the requirement of concrete evidence and on restrictions limiting access to investigation files, issues that have been raised in connection with the detention of journalists and broader concerns over freedom of expression.
