Preventing prison visits violates Constitution, top court rules

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The Constitutional Court has ruled that the prevention of a prisoner's visitation rights violated "right to privacy."

Mahmud Sıddık Ecevit, the applicant who is kept at İstanbul's Silivri No. 7 Type-L Prison, will be paid 5,000 lira for immaterial damages, according to the ruling.

On July 16, 2019, Ecevit filed an application with the prison administration regarding his right to determine a three-person visitor list other than his family.

The administration rejected the application a day later, stating that the 60-day period to determine the visitors had expired.

Ecevit then filed an appeal with the Silivri 3rd Judgeship of Enforcement, which accepted his request on September 13, 2019.

"Communication with the outside world"

The Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, however, appealed against the judgeship's decision. The Silivri Heavy Penal Court on October 15 ruled that the prison administration's decision was in compliance with the procedures and laws and overturned the judgeship's verdict.

The prisoner then filed an individual application with the Constitutional Court. Examining the application on July 4, the high court ruled that the regulation about the visitor list was a rights-regulating one and should not be considered a regulation to forfeit rights.

In such a case, the prisoner would be prevented from communicating with the outside world and socializing, the court said, concluding that his right to privacy was violated.

The court also ruled that the case should be retried in order to eliminate the consequences of the right violation. (AS/VK)