Sentence Reduction Bill Submitted to Parliament

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A law proposal for sentence reductions aimed at decreasing the prison population due to the coronavirus pandemic has been submitted to the Speaker's Office of the parliament.

The bill prepared by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) will face hearings in the Justice Committee this week and debates at the general assembly will start on April 7.

"Sexual offenses, drug offenses, intentional killing offenses, violence against women and terror offenses have been excluded," AKP Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Cahit Özkan told reporters. Many rights defenders and journalists are convicted or remanded in custody for offenses related to "terrorism."

The bill envisages amendments to 11 articles of the Law on the Execution of Penalties and Security Measures, he noted.

The bill would enable home confinement for some inmates over 65, women who have children age 6 and under, and patients who cannot take care of themselves, he added.

But the bill would toughen sentences on those who organized criminal organizations for the purpose of monetary profit, he said.

Özkan also said that the bill would bring measures for inmates with communicable diseases.

The measures would roughly double beneficiaries of alternative penal arrangements from about 45,000 to 90,000 in-home confinement due to such illnesses, he said.

There are around 300 thousand prisoners in the country, according to the Ministry of Justice.

There have been no confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in prisons so far, according to the ministry. (AS/VK)

Click for the full text of the Law on the Execution of Penalties and Security Measures