Turkey’s Constitutional Court (AYM) ruled that a lower court unlawfully restricted a suspect’s freedom by ordering house arrest without questioning the suspect and by delaying notification of the decision, the T24 news website reported.
The AYM said the written decision was delivered too late, limiting the ability of the suspect, identified only by the initials K.Y., to file an effective appeal against the restriction. It ruled that both the failure to question the suspect and the delayed notification amounted to a violation of fundamental procedural rights under European human rights law.
The ruling cited case law from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a party.
The case dates back to 2022, when the suspect, who was under 18 at the time, was taken into custody over alleged violent offenses and brought before a lower criminal court in Ankara. The court ordered that the suspect be put under house arrest as a pretrial measure based solely on the case file, without questioning him in person.
The top court sent the case back to the lower court to remedy the violation, allowing the decision to be reassessed.
