Secret witness

Last updated

A secret witness (or anonymous witness) is a witness which is granted anonymity in a trial by the juridical authority. The identity of the witness is not disclosed to the defendant and the general public except if the secret witness agrees to it. It is a juridical procedure currently often used in Turkish law. Prominent examples are the case against Andrew Brunson and the Ergenekon trials. In several trials against politicians of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) secret witnesses are also used. Following the attempted coup d'état in 2016, secret witnesses were used in many trials. [1]

Contents

Poland

An incognito witness (świadek incognito), also an anonymous witness (świadek anonimowy), is a witness who has been questioned in the course of criminal proceedings and whose circumstances allowing disclosure of his or her identity are not known to other participants in the proceedings, other than the prosecutor and the court, due to a well-founded fear of danger to the life, health, freedom or property of the witness or a person close to him or her. [2] [3]

Proceedings on the complaint are held without the participation of the parties and are classified as 'secret' or 'top secret'. [2] [3]

Turkey

Evidence provided by the secret witness dubbed Garson was used in trials against 4000 Turkish police officers accused of being members of the Gülen movement. [4] In the Kobani trial, the former Mayor of Diyarbakır Gültan Kişanak is accused by secret witnesses of organizing the Kobanî protests supporting the Kurds during the Siege of Kobanî by the Islamic State (IS). [5]

Eren Erdem of the Republican People's Party (CHP) was prosecuted for revealing the identity of a secret witness but found not guilty of the crime and his release was ordered in January 2019. [6] However, the prosecution issued a new arrest warrant the day after the verdict alleging a flight risk [7] and Erdem was sentenced to over 4 years imprisonment due to a testimony of a secret witness on 1 March 2019. [8]

The American pastor Andrew Brunson was prosecuted also on grounds of testimony of a secret witness accusing him of supporting the creation of a Kurdish Christian state. [9] Brunson was later released in 2018, following an alteration of the testimonies provided by three secret witnesses during the final day of the trial. [10] During the Ergenekon trials against members of the so-called deep state of Turkey, [11] Şemdin Sakık of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) acted as one of over 40 secret witnesses, but during the trial he decided to reveal his identity. [12] In Turkey the use of secret witnesses has been a target for criticism by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) [13] [14] but also of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) [10] Emma Sinclair-Webb  [ de ] of the Human Rights Watch, also condemned the use of secret witnesses in trials against mayors dismissed from public office in Turkey. [13]

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom secret witnesses were used during the trial concerning the Murder of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare. [15] Other trials which potentially would have involved secret witnesses were suspended on grounds that the rights of the defendant were not guaranteed. [16] Nevertheless, the use of secret witnesses is allowed according to British law, [17] but if their use in trial is granted by a court, the prosecution is obliged to provide as much information as possible to the defense. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nationalist Movement Party</span> Turkish far-right ultranationalist political party

The Nationalist Movement Party is a Turkish far-right, ultranationalist political party. The group is often described as neo-fascist, and has been linked to violent paramilitaries and organized crime groups. Its leader is Devlet Bahçeli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osman Baydemir</span> Turkish politician

Osman Baydemir is a Kurdish politician, lawyer and human rights activist. He was the mayor of his home town of Diyarbakır from 2004 to 2014. He was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and also the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP).

The Turkish Revenge Brigade, also referred as the Turkish Vengeance Brigade, is a militant Turkish nationalist organisation that has used violence against those they perceive as insulting Turkey. In the political violence of the 1970s, TİT gained notoriety during political clashes and is believed to be responsible for over 1,000 deaths during this period. After the military coup of 1980, most of its members were arrested. They were later released and utilised by the Turkish military intelligence in operations during the Kurdish-Turkish conflict.

Aysel Tuğluk is a Kurdish politician from Turkey and was a founding member of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Turkey. Aysel Tuğluk is currently imprisoned at the Kocaeli F-Type Prison, located near Istanbul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selahattin Demirtaş</span> Turkish politician of Kurdish origin.

Selahattin Demirtaş is a Turkish politician and author of Zaza origin. He was the co-leader of the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağ from 2014 to 2018. Selahattin Demirtaş announced that he left politics after the May 2023 elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyla Güven</span> Kurdish politician

Leyla Güven is a Kurdish politician and HDP MP for Hakkari, co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) and former mayor of the municipality of Viranşehir in the Şanlıurfa Province of Southeast Anatolia of Turkey, where she represented the former Democratic Society Party (DTP).

The Ergenekon trials or the Ergenekon conspiracy, were a series of high-profile trials which took place in 2008–2016 in Turkey in which 275 people, including military officers, journalists and opposition lawmakers, all alleged members of Ergenekon, a suspected secularist clandestine organization, were accused of plotting against the Turkish government. The trials resulted in lengthy prison sentences for the majority of the accused. Those sentences were overturned shortly after.

Şemdin Sakık, nicknamed Semo or Parmaksiz Zeki for having lost a finger while firing a rocket, is a former commander of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)'s military forces. He is best known for ordering the May 24, 1993 PKK ambush. He has been imprisoned since his capture in Iraqi Kurdistan by Turkish forces in 1998, shortly after his defection to the Kurdistan Democratic Party. He was a key witness in the Ergenekon trials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Kobanî protests</span> Kurdish protests in Turkey

The 2014 Kobanî protests in Turkey were large-scale rallies by pro-People's Defense Units (YPG) protestors in Turkey which occurred in autumn 2014, as a spillover of the crisis in Kobanî. Large demonstrations unfolded in Turkey, and quickly descended into violence between protesters and the Turkish police. Several military incidents between Turkish forces and militants of the Youth Wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in south-eastern Turkey contributed to the escalation. Protests then spread to various cities in Turkey. Protesters were met with tear gas and water cannons, and initially 12 people were killed. A total of 31 people were killed in subsequent protesting up to 14 October.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berdan Öztürk</span> Turkish politician (born 1980)

Berdan Öztürk is a Turkish politician of Kurdish descent who is from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), who has served as a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Ağrı since 7 June 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">June 2015 Nationalist Movement Party election campaign</span>

The Nationalist Movement Party election campaign of June 2015 was the official election campaign of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for the June 2015 general election in Turkey. The campaign was led by Devlet Bahçeli, who was contesting his fifth successive general election since being elected party leader in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eren Erdem</span> Turkish politician

Eren Erdem is a Turkish writer and politician from the Republican People's Party (CHP), who has served as a Member of Parliament for İstanbul since 7 June 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Brunson</span> American pastor

Andrew Craig Brunson is an American pastor. Before becoming a lecturer in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, he was the evangelical pastor of a Protestant church with a congregation of 24 people in İzmir, Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nedim Türfent</span>

Nedim Türfent is a Kurdish journalist from Turkey who worked as a correspondent for Dicle News Agency (DIHA) in the South East of Turkey. He was arrested on May 12, 2016, and charged with "membership in a terrorist organisation" under the Anti-Terror Law of Turkey. He remains in prison.

İbrahim Gökçek was a musician of the Turkish revolutionary band Grup Yorum in which he played the bass guitar. He died on 7 May 2020 after a 323-day hunger strike, which he had ended two days before his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayhan Bilgen</span> Turkish politician

Ayhan Bilgen is a journalist, politician and former mayor of Kars from the Peoples' Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyla Birlik</span> Kurdish politician from Turkey

Leyla Birlik is a Kurdish politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a former member of the Gran National Assembly of Turkey. She is currently a member of the executive council and the head of the Women Committee in the Kurdistan National Congress.

The Peoples' Democratic Party closure case refers to a legal procedure during which the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is threatened with closure while hundreds of its politicians face a political ban for five years. The HDP was accused to have organizational ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The Kobani trial is a politically motivated trial against hundreds of pro-Kurdish politicians and human rights activists, especially against high-ranking members of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP). The trial is related to the events from Kobanê in October 2014. Officially, the defendants are accused of being members of a terrorist organization and of endangering the “unity and territorial integrity of the state.” In fact, intellectuals and outsiders interpret this process as an act of revenge by the AKP government against its political, pro-Kurdish opponents.

Selahattin Demirtaş is a politician of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) and faced several trials since he was arrested in November 2016. He was accused of having established and lead a terrorist organization, propagandizing for a terrorist organization, or being a leading member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). He was sentenced several times since, but two of them were overturned and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled for his release. He faces trials for over a hundred charges and is threatened with a 142 years imprisonment.

References

  1. ↑ House, Freedom (2019-02-04). "Freedom in the World 2019 - Turkey". freedomhouse.org. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  2. 1 2 "Świadek anonimowy, przesłanki, sposób ustanowienia, przesłuchanie]" [Anonymous witness, rationale, method of appointment, questioning]. OpenLEX (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  3. 1 2 "Świadek incognito (świadek anonimowy)". www.infor.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  4. ↑ TM. "ECtHR judgment could spell the end of anonymous witnesses in Turkey - Turkish Minute" . Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  5. ↑ "Turkish court remands two more Kurdish politicians over Kobani protests". Ahval. Archived from the original on 2020-11-27. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  6. ↑ "Turkish authorities release former opposition lawmaker on probation". Ahval. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  7. ↑ "English :: Arrest Warrant Issued Against Eren Erdem Shortly After Verdict of Release". bianet.org. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  8. ↑ "Former MP Eren Erdem is sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in prison". Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA). 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  9. ↑ "Secret witness testifies against US pastor in Turkey". AP NEWS. 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  10. 1 2 "MHP leader slams 'use of secret witnesses' in cases after Brunson release - Turkey News". Hürriyet Daily News . Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  11. ↑ Ünver, H. Akin (1 April 2009). "Turkey's "Deep-State" and the Ergenekon Conundrum". Middle East Institute . Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  12. ↑ Butler, Daren (2012-11-08). "Turkish generals angered by Kurd militant testimony". Reuters (in French). Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  13. 1 2 Jones, Dorian (23 March 2020). "Kurdish Crackdown Continues in Turkey, Despite Health Emergency". Voice of America . Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  14. ↑ "Demirtaş: The plot hatched against the HDP over Kobani". hdp.org.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  15. ↑ "Trials suspended after ruling on secret witnesses". the Guardian. 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  16. ↑ "Secret witness rule: 50 cases in jeopardy". the Guardian. 2008-06-24. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  17. 1 2 "Witness Anonymity (The Director's Guidance) | The Crown Prosecution Service". www.cps.gov.uk. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.