Turkish Constitutional Court (Pilot Judgement): Prolonged Seizure Annotations Under Article 128 Breach Property And Remedy Rights

October 2025 – In its decision dated 12 December 2024 and published in the Official Gazette No. 33046 on 13 October 2025, the Constitutional Court examined the constitutionality of long-term seizure measures imposed under Article 128 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Law No. 5271) through land registry annotations.

The Constitutional Court held that the extended maintenance of such seizure annotations, even without physical confiscation, constitutes a disproportionate interference with the right to property protected under Article 35 of the Constitution, and that the limited interpretation of Article 141(1)(j), which allows compensation only where there is physical seizure- renders the right to an effective remedy under Article 40 ineffective.