İstanbul Bar demands investigation into Court of Cassation members

The İstanbul Bar Association gathered the signatures of 3,235 registered lawyers to demand an investigation into the president and members of the 3rd Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, who refuse to acknowledge the Constitutional Court's violation decision for the release of imprisoned MP Can Atalay.

The lawyers convened at the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan to deliver the signed petitions to the Presidency Board of the Court of Cassation.

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During the event, İstanbul Bar Association President Filiz Saraçoğlu emphasized that the indictment included the signatures of 3,235 lawyers registered with the İstanbul Bar. Saraçoğlu expressed concern that the Court of Cassation 3. Criminal Chamber "disregarded" Article 153 of the Constitution, which states, "Decisions of the Constitutional Court bind the legislative, executive, and judicial organs, administrative authorities, natural and legal persons."

Saraçoğlu asserted that the refusal of the 3rd Criminal Chamber to implement the AYM decision, despite Article 153, constitutes the offenses of "abuse of duty" under Article 257 of the Turkish Penal Code and "deprivation of liberty" under Article 109 of the Turkish Penal Code. She further stated:

"The principle of the rule of law requires the absolute sovereignty of law over all organs of the state, and the legislator must always abide by the superior rules of the Constitution and the law.

In this context, the discretionary power of the legislator in making legal regulations is not unlimited and arbitrary but limited by the principles of the rule of law.

In other words, the rule of law is a state where the rules are specific, and the rules and sanctions of individuals are predictable. There is no legal predictability and determination in a system where the executive intervenes when there is a decision it dislikes. Such a situation fundamentally undermines the concept of the rule of law within the immutable provisions of the Constitution.

The judiciary needs independence and impartiality, not arbitration. On behalf of the İstanbul Bar Association and our colleagues here, we urge those who hold political power to refrain from interfering with the judiciary." (RT/VK)