Regional appellate review in Turkish criminal law, known in practice as istinaf before the bölge adliye mahkemesi, is one of the most important stages of modern Turkish criminal procedure. It is the first ordinary level of review after a first-instance criminal judgment, and it serves as the main mechanism for correcting procedural errors, evidentiary mistakes, […]
How appeals work in Turkish criminal cases is one of the most important practical questions in Turkish criminal procedure because a criminal judgment is rarely the end of the legal story. In Türkiye, the appeal system is structured to give parties a meaningful opportunity to challenge errors of fact, law, procedure, reasoning, and sentencing after […]
The burden of proof in Turkish criminal proceedings is one of the core principles that determines whether a criminal case is decided under the rule of law or merely under suspicion. In Türkiye, the criminal process does not begin from the assumption that an accused person must prove innocence. It begins from the opposite position: […]
The presumption of innocence in Turkish criminal law is not a decorative principle or a slogan used only in academic writing. It is one of the structural rules that shape the entire criminal process in Türkiye, from the opening of the investigation to the wording of public statements, the treatment of defendants in court, the […]
Criminal court hearings in Turkey are the stage where a criminal accusation stops being only a prosecutor’s file and becomes a judicial process conducted before a court. For defendants, this is the part of the case where the indictment is formally brought into court, the evidence is presented and debated, witnesses and experts may be […]
Expert reports in criminal cases can be decisive in Turkey because many criminal files turn on questions a judge cannot answer with ordinary legal knowledge alone. Technical causation, medical findings, digital traces, accounting flows, signature analysis, valuation issues, and scientific measurements often enter the case through an expert report rather than through a witness or […]
Witness testimony in Turkish criminal trials remains one of the most important forms of proof in the Turkish criminal justice system. Even in cases built around digital data, expert reports, forensic traces, or documentary records, witness evidence often determines how the court understands chronology, intent, participation, credibility, and context. Turkish criminal procedure therefore does not […]
Defense rights during prosecutor statements in Türkiye are a critical part of Turkish criminal procedure because the public prosecutor is not just another questioning authority. In the Turkish system, the prosecutor is the legal actor who directs the investigation, decides whether evidence is sufficient to move toward indictment, requests coercive measures when necessary, and is […]
Objections to detention orders in Turkey are one of the most important tools in Turkish criminal defense practice because pre-trial detention is the harshest protective measure that can be imposed before a final conviction. Under Turkish law, detention is not meant to function as advance punishment, a routine prosecutorial advantage, or a shortcut around careful […]
The prosecution phase in Turkish criminal cases is the stage that begins after the court accepts the indictment and continues through hearing preparation, trial, evidentiary debate, judgment, and the opening of appellate review. In Turkish criminal procedure, this phase is not just a continuation of the investigation. It is a separate procedural stage with its […]