Constitutional Court (AYM) decided for a violation of the ‘right to fair trial’ in the application of Serdar Batur, who was sentenced to a total of 12 years and 11 months of imprisonment due to secret witness statements that claimed that he “threw stones and molotov cocktails on the Justice and Development Party (AKP) building” as well as “participated in illegal demonstration” in Eruh district of Siirt.
Indicating that there is no sufficient evidence in the file except secret witness statements, the Constitutional Court stated that the prosecution period did not follow a procedure that provided balancing security between allegation and defense; and that the defense statement could not test the liability of the secret witness statement through interrogation. “The mere fact that the secret witness statements were read out loud in front of the defendant and the complainant does not lead to sufficient opportunity against the witness statement. The reason for the anonymity of the witness was not mentioned in the file, the decree was based mostly on the statements of the secret witness with the codename ‘Eruh 56’ and that no balance was seen between the witness benefits and the defendant’s rights to fair trial, when the guarantees for the defendant is considered,” the high court stated. The file was sent back to the local court to eliminate the consequences of the violation through retrial.
10.07.2018
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