Justice minister criticizes 'social media courts'

Photo: AA

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Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül has criticized social media campaigns for alleged criminals, which have become frequent over the past years, saying that "No one can wag their finger at the judiciary."

Turkey is a "state of law," according to the minister, but "social media courts" are set up in some situations and this is increasingly turning into "postmodern social engineering."

"I call out to those who order me to arrest and release people every day on social media: The Republic of Turkey is a state of law. Laws, rules, proceedings work here," he said today (January 21) in Ankara at an evaluation meeting of courts of appeal, which were introduced five years ago to reduce the workload of courts.

Over the past few years, many criminal suspects were arrested after social media campaigns. Especially, women's rights defenders often resort to social media in cases where no action is taken against suspects of male violence.

Women also use social media to reveal incidents of male violence, which may lead to legal action against perpetrators.

However, hashtags demanding the arrest of people for various reasons, including political ones, appear almost daily on Twitter's trending topics in Turkey.

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"Those who aren't pleased with this procedure can exercise their right to appeal but no one can wag their fingers at the judiciary," Gül further remarked. "No one can expect the minister of justice to interfere with this procedure. The minister of justice doesn't have a judge's or a prosecutor's robe. I have never worn that robe during my duty."

The minister also said that Turkey is a "state of law" and those who hold executive positions should respect legal proceedings. (DŞ/VK)