The Constitutional Court (AYM) signed an important pilot decree regarding the successive access bans issued by local courts against the contents of media organizations. In 9 separate applications, the Constitutional Court has ruled that the ‘access ban’ decrees issued by the Criminal Judicatures of Peace were a violation of freedom of expression and press freedom. The Supreme Court decided for 8 thousand Turkish Liras in compensation to be paid to the applicants and demanded an amendment in the law to prevent new violations of rights. In the decree, it was stated that there were currently many similar applications before the court, that decrees of violation could be issued in all these files, whereas this would not prevent new violations. Therefore, one year of period was allowed for the Parliament to make an amendment in the corresponding law that the access bans were based upon, so that new rights violations do not occur. It is estimated that there are currently around 500 individual application files on “access bans” in the hands of the Constitutional Court. According to the data compiled by EngelliWeb, a large number of access ban decrees have been issued against 18 news stories in the last month alone.
01.11.2021
haberturk.com