In a letter to the Parliamentary Justice Commission, Human Rights Association (IHD) Head Office has criticized the new legal arrangement about mother tongue and conditions for the release of ill prisoners.

IHD said the new arrangement about “mother tongue” was lacking in providing the right to use a language other than Turkish in the prosecution process and interrogation as well as all other judicial proceedings. IHD also pointed out that “relevant governmental authorities should be responsible for covering the expenses for interpretation services to prevent the rise of potential problems as a result of economic conditions of concerned defendants.

IHD also pointed out that the new arrangement consisted of discrimination against pregnant women prisoners by not allowing the suspension of their sentence, thus paving the way to the violation of rights of both mother and the child. IHD demanded the elimination of this amendment from the arrangement.

The Association also demanded the elimination of another article in the arrangement which proposes that general hospitals’ reports on ill prisoners are to be confirmed by a Forensic Medicine Institute. It was underlined that Forensic Medicine Institutes have lost impartiality by acting in accordance with the policies of the political power and that they should therefore not be allowed to leave seriously ill prisoners to death in prisons.

IHD ended criticizing one other amendment which proposes that the criteria as to prisoners that pose a danger for public safety are to be considered by public prosecutors not by courts.