Parliament Approves Court Defense Bill

The parliament reached consensus  on a bill permitting defendants to speak in the mother tongue, including Kurdish.

According to Meclis Haber website, the bill enabled to defendants to speak in the mother tongue upon the declaration of charges and verdict.

Local juridical authorities are envisioned to create a pool of interpreters among which the defendant will select one interpreter, the bill permitted. The interpretation cost are foreseen to be at defendant's expense.

Justice Ministry has been alerted to implement necessary regulations within the first 30 days of bill ratification. The bill also enabled suspects to bring their own interpreters until local juridical authorities create their pool of interpreters.

In case the suspect does not speak Turkish at all, the bill suggested, suspects and witnesses will also benefit from the interpreter, appointed by a judge or attorney.

New probations on health issues

The bill also envisioned new health related probations, allowing verdicts with a serious illness or disability to serve their sentences after they recover, a regulation that only inmates "who don't pose a threat to public safety" will benefit.

However, the bill exempted inmates with at least six years left to their parole limit or with a disciplinary record in prison. These inmates with health problems were envisioned to serve their sentence in a facility provided by prison administration.

The health problem related probations will apply for a period of 3 months once a year, the bill envisioned. Inmates will benefit from probation to a maximum duration of 12 months. Convicts with a new public offense during probation will be suspended.

Inmates convicted with "terrorism", organized crime or sexual offense were exempted from probations.

New bill allowed verdicts with ongoing education or with a current deceased relative, allowing them to probate twice, each for a period of 6 months.

New regulations on spouse visits

Another regulation involved married verdicts, enabling them to meet their spouses in private up to a duration of 24 hours every three months. The weekly visit duration will be extended to 2 hours and held openly if desired.

The new bill also introduced a series of incentives for inmates in the condition that they attended educational activities in prisons or maintained a well behavior. Child inmates are also included as beneficiaries of this regulation.  (AS)