Amendments of Anti-Terror Law Positive but not Sufficient

Amnesty International issued an announcement on the amendments of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) and appreciated the new regulations.

Amnesty International's researcher on Turkey, Andrew Gardner, said, ""Turkey's Parliament has taken an important step to end the unfair trials of children and to protect their human rights".

"The authorities must now take steps to amend overly broad and vague anti-terrorism laws that have resulted in countless unfair trials and prosecutions of those expressing peaceful dissenting opinions.", Gardner continued.

Maltreatment cannot be tolerated

The statement of Amnesty International continued as follows:

"Amnesty International pledged to monitor the implementation of the amendments and urged the authorities to ensure that children are only tried in designated Children's Courts".

"Amnesty International reminded the Turkish authorities of their obligations to uphold the right to peaceful protest. They were urged to ensure that in the policing of demonstrations only such force is used as is consistent with international human rights standards. The organization said that children should only be detained as a last resort and in facilities designed for minors. It also called on the Turkish authorities to ensure that the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment is upheld".

"The government should now state clearly and openly that the ill-treatment of demonstrators will not be tolerated and commit to thorough and impartial investigations into widespread allegations of ill-treatment by state officials at demonstrations and places of detention."

Lawyer Aktar: Children convicted under the TMK will be re-tried

Lawyer Emin Aktar, President of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, claimed that with the enforcement of the amendments of the TMK, children imprisoned under the very law should be released immediately.

Aktar told bianet, "Not all our demands were met but still we think that the amendments have a positive effect for the children.

"The courts have to proceed according to the amendments without a particular application of the lawyers. First of all, the detained children have to be released. Then, pending files should be sent to Children's Courts", Aktar explained.

53 children released

Aktar said that the children will undergo a new prosecution at the children's courts. "The practice of children's courts is different from high criminal courts. The children will be re-tried according to the Children's Judicial System. Experts are going to prepare social investigation reports on the children. The court has to take these reports into account for the decision whether the child shall be punished or not".

The amendments related to the TMK were published in the Official Gazette on Monday (26 July) and thus enforced quickly. Upon the decision of the Diyarbakır Duty Court, five children were released from Midyat Prison. Lawyers Sevil Aracı and Tugay Bek from the Justice for Children Group said that a number of children have also been released in Adana. 38 children were released in Ceyhan, Silifke and Pozantı. According to statistics of the Ministry of Justice, 196 are being imprisoned under the Anti-Terror Law. About 4,000 children are currently being tried. (SP/VK)