Constitutional Court Issues Decision On Reasonable Time Requirement In Criminal Proceedings

Introduction

Since 2012, individuals in Turkey have been able to make individual complaint applications to the Constitutional Court claiming that the state has violated their fundamental constitutional rights (or rights under the European Human Rights Convention) through its acts or omissions.

One of the most common claims is that the state has violated an individual's right to a fair trial by failing to meet the reasonable time requirement and concluding criminal cases over long periods, in some cases more than 10 years.

General overview

Several applications are made each year by accused parties claiming that the criminal courts have violated their right to a fair trial under Article 36/1 of the Constitution, by leaving them in an accused position for too long, leading to requests for non-pecuniary damages.(1)