Şehriban Aslan 

 

DİYARBAKIR - Speaking about the 4th Judicial Package, which passed the General Assembly of the Parliament and stipulates the seek for concrete evidence in sexual crimes, one of the lawyers of the Diyarbakır Bar Association Women's Rights Center Elif Tirenç İpek Ulaş said: ‘’Besides, it is inevitable that this regulation will further move away from the obligation to take women's statements as a basis and to show the necessary sensitivities in terms of investigations and prosecutions.’’

 

The first part of the Bill of Law on the Amendment of the Criminal Procedure Code and Certain Laws, known as the "4th Judicial Package" in the public, consisting of 14 articles, was accepted in the General Assembly of the Parliament. According to the accepted articles, the response time to administrative applications will be reduced from 60 days to 30 days, and due to the shortening of the response time, the waiting period for uncertain answers will be reduced from six months to four months.

 

While the adoption of the article of the proposal on "seek for concrete evidence in catalog crimes", which includes sexual crimes, was met with a great reaction by women's organizations, Elif Tirenç İpek Ulaş, one of the lawyers of Diyarbakır Bar Association Women's Rights Center, pointed out that the law will deepen the problems in the prosecution of perpetrators of sexual crimes.

 

The proposal passed

 

Expressing that with the draft, the arrest of a person in catalog crimes was made dependent on "strong suspicion of crime based on concrete evidence", Elif said: ‘’The draft passed the General Assembly of the Parliament. For the crimes of sexual assault and abuse, which are included in the catalog crimes, it has become law to issue an arrest warrant if there is 'concrete evidence' in the next process.’’

 

‘64 percent of crimes are sexual crimes’

 

Elif noted that the rule of relying on concrete evidence for the implementation of detention, which is the heaviest measure in criminal proceedings, is legal and legitimate. Pointing out that the country's legal record is not bright in terms of arrest and punishment without concrete evidence, especially in terms of "organizational crimes", Elif stated that this situation is different for women and children. Saying that an exception should be made to the rule of relying on concrete evidence, Elif stated: ‘’It will be more appropriate to the reality of fighting against violence. The absence of such an exception would mean that the judicial practice, which is already based on the policy of impunity, worsens, especially in terms of sexual crimes. According to the report of 2015 and 2016, it was stated in the press that 64 percent of the cases of violence against women and children consisted of acts involving sexual crimes.’’

 

‘99 percent of perpetrators of violence are men’

 

‘’The criminal record and statistical reports published by the Ministry of Justice show that, when we look at the data of almost every year, domestic violence cases result in convictions at an average rate of 33 percent,’’ Elif said. She continued as: ‘’Anything other than these results in a decision other than conviction. Again, in all civil society reports across Turkey, it is an undeniable fact that 98-99% of the perpetrators of acts involving violent crimes are men. Nevertheless, it is known that 33 out of 100 perpetrators of violence are punished, but these penalties are mostly confirmed in the form of postponement or judicial fines. Any statement by women that the judiciary has been following a policy of impunity for years is not empty rhetoric. As all the data point to this, the rate of victims who gave up their complaints due to social pressure has always been very high.’’

 

‘Searching for concrete evidence makes the situation worse’

 

Elif pointed out ‘’the general feature of sexual crimes is that the victim and the perpetrator are alone or that they do not leave any concrete evidence’ and said the following: ‘’Among them, molestation and sexual harassment are very common crimes. Therefore, in sexual crimes that can occur even in the form of not having any physical contact, even in the presence of physical contact, it is often not very likely to be based on material evidence. Again, with the mentality dimension, the subconscious minds of male perpetrators while committing these crimes are fed from an infrastructure that the victim deserves to be exposed to this crime and that he has the right to commit this act. Therefore, seeking concrete evidence in sexual crimes, which is largely impossible to prove with concrete and material facts, will have a function to deepen the impunity policies and practices I have mentioned and to worsen the situation.’’

 

‘The fate of the Law No. 6284 is still unknown’

 

Noting that the principle of “Women's statement is essential”, which is also revealed by the joint struggle of women, first took its basis from the Istanbul Convention in Turkey, Elif pointed out that this principle was later embodied in the regulation of not seeking evidence and documents in terms of complaints in Law No. 6284 which is the implementation law. Elif said: ‘’The Istanbul Convention has been abolished by a unilateral and one-person decision. The fate of the Law Numbered 6284 is still unknown. There is a concern that if the fact of concrete evidence is established in terms of all crimes, it will spread to the Law No. 6284. In addition, the concern that women will be asked to prove the situation when they request protection measures arose with the coming of the 4th Judicial Package. Besides, it is inevitable that this regulation will further move away from the obligation to take women's statements as a basis and to show the necessary sensitivities in terms of investigations and prosecutions.’’

 

‘The situation must be approached sensitively’

 

Finally, Elif said: ‘’Not only the 4th Judicial Package, but all legal amendments and regulations need special handling, sensitive and political approach when it comes to violent crimes against women and children. It is clear that general universal legal approaches do not and cannot end the violence and that more whole and special legislation and arguments are needed.’’