Criminal Law

Criminal law interferes directly with personal liberty through protective measures such as search, seizure, arrest, police custody, pre-trial detention and judicial control, and through sanctions such as imprisonment and judicial fines. Criminal proceedings are therefore among the processes where legal assistance is most needed. If a suspect, defendant, victim or injured party is not represented by defence counsel or an attorney from the very beginning, losses of rights that are difficult to remedy may occur.

Investigation stage

• Attending statements taken by the police and the public prosecutor as defence counsel
• Police custody: under Article 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, custody may not, as a rule, exceed twenty-four hours from the moment of arrest; for collectively committed offences it may be extended by written order of the public prosecutor by up to one day at a time for a total of three days. Arrest and custody may be challenged before the criminal judgeship of peace.
• Interrogation before the criminal judgeship of peace and objections to pre-trial detention and judicial control decisions
• Applications concerning protective measures such as search, seizure and interception of communications
• Drafting criminal complaints and requesting the collection of evidence
• Objections to decisions of non-prosecution

Trial and legal remedies

• Defence of the accused and representation of victims and intervening parties before criminal courts of first instance and assize courts
• Preparing the defence against the indictment, assessing the evidence and responding to witness and expert statements
• Assessing institutions such as deferral of the announcement of the verdict, suspension of the sentence or conversion into alternative sanctions
• Appeals (istinaf) and appeals on points of law (temyiz): the time limit is two weeks from service of the reasoned judgment.
• Retrial requests regarding final judgments and applications at the enforcement stage

Victim-offender mediation (uzlaştırma)

For the offences listed in the law, such as offences prosecuted upon complaint and certain forms of intentional injury, threat, violation of domicile, theft and fraud, mediation between the suspect and the victim is attempted. If no answer is given to a mediation offer within seven days, the offer is deemed rejected. Since the legal consequences of mediation may differ from case to case, a legal assessment before accepting or rejecting the offer is important.

Mandatory defence counsel and time limits

For offences carrying a minimum sentence of more than five years' imprisonment, and for children and persons unable to defend themselves, defence counsel is appointed without any request. In all other cases, the right to choose defence counsel is preserved. For offences prosecuted upon complaint, the complaint period is six months from the date the act and the perpetrator became known. Objection and appeal periods in criminal proceedings are short, and missing them may cause serious losses of rights.

Our firm provides legal representation and advisory services in criminal law from the investigation stage through trial and enforcement, in all matters carrying a risk of criminal sanctions.

The information on this page is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.