Türk ve Alman Ceza Muhakemesi Hukukunda Katılanın Sanık Lehine Faaliyette Bulunması
Hüsnü Sefa EryıldızTürk ve Alman Hukukunda bir ceza muhakemesi süjesi olarak kabul edilen katılan, toplumsal iddia makamında yer alan savcının yanında, bireysel iddia makamında konumlandırılmaktadır. Kanunda kendisine tanınan geniş hak ve yetkileri savcıdan bağımsız olarak kullanabilen katılan, böylelikle zarar gördüğü suç dolayısıyla yürütülen kovuşturmada meşru çıkarlarını savunabilme ve yargılamaya aktif olarak etki edebilme imkânına sahip olmaktadır. Katılanın, kendisine sağlanan bu hak ve yetkileri yargılamada sanık lehine kullanıp kullanamayacağı hususu ise hem Türk hem de Alman Hukukunda tartışmalıdır. Türk ve Alman Ceza Muhakemesi Kanunlarında, katılanın hak ve yetkilerini hangi amaçla ve ne yönde kullanabileceği hususunda açık bir düzenleme bulunmamaktadır. Dolayısıyla katılanın faaliyet alanına ilişkin olarak ortaya çıkan tartışma, katılma müessesinin amacı ile geçerli bir katılmaya ilişkin aranan koşullar ekseninde gerçekleşmektedir. Bu noktada, özellikle Alman Federal Mahkemesi 3. Ceza Dairesi’nin 1.9.2020 tarihli ve 214/20 sayılı kararı, bahsi geçen tartışmaya yeni bir boyut kazandırmıştır.
Katılanın ceza muhakemesindeki hak ve yetkileri, çoğu zaman toplumsal iddia makamını oluşturan savcınınkilerle özdeşleştirilse de, katılan savcının yardımcısı değildir. Katılanın, kanuni hak ve yetkilerini diğer muhakeme süjelerinden bağımsız olarak kullanabilme imkânına sahip olması, bağımsız konumunun en açık göstergesidir. Bu bağlamda katılanın, hak ve yetkilerini sanığın lehine kullanmasının, faaliyetlerini bu hedefe ulaşmak amacıyla gerçekleştirmesinin mümkün olup olmadığı sorusu tartışılmaktadır.
Çalışmada, katılanın sanık lehine faaliyette bulunup bulunamayacağı sorusu, katılana tanınan hak ve yetkilere ilişkin kanuni düzenlemeler, suçtan zarar görme koşulu, katılmanın amacı ve katılmada şikâyet koşulu yönünde, konuya ilişkin Türk ve Alman Öğreti görüşleri ile mahkeme kararları doğrultusunda değerlendirilmiş, akabinde katılanın sanık lehine kanun yollarına başvuru imkânı inceleme konusu yapılmıştır.
Participant Activities in Favor of the Accused in Turkish and German Criminal Procedural Law
Hüsnü Sefa EryıldızThe participant, who is recognized as a criminal procedure subject in Turkish and German law, is an individual prosecution subject, in contrast to the prosecutor. The participant can use the rights and powers granted by law independent of the prosecutor. Thus they have the opportunity to defend their legitimate interests and effectively influence the criminal proceedings. Whether participants can use these rights and powers in favor of the accused in proceedings is controversial in both Turkish and German law. In fact, Turkish and German criminal procedure codes have no specific regulation on the direction and purpose for which participants can use their rights and powers. Therefore, the discussion regarding the field participant activity is centered on the purpose of their participation and the conditions required for valid participation. In this regard, particularly concerning the decision of the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the German Federal Court (Decision No. 214/20 dated September 1, 2020) has added a new aspect to this debate.
Although the position and activities of participants in criminal proceedings are often identified with the public prosecutor, participants are not assistants to the public prosecutor. Their clearest indicator of independence is that they have the opportunity to use their legal rights and powers independent from other judicial subjects. In this context, this study argues whether participants are allowed to exercise the rights and powers granted to them in a criminal proceeding in favor of the accused and to carry out activities for achieving this aim.
This study evaluates the question of whether participants may act in favor of the accused in light of Turkish and German doctrinal views and court decisions on the subject by considering the legal regulations regarding the rights and powers granted to participants, the condition of being harmed by a crime, the purpose of participation and the condition of complaint with regard to participation. The study then examines the possibility of the participant applying for legal remedies in favor of the accused.
In Turkish and German law, participants as subjects of a criminal proceeding are entitled to exercise various rights and powers granted to them in the prosecution of an offense from which they have been harmed. Thus, participants can influence and direct a proceeding. Although participants’ position and activities in criminal proceedings are often identified with the public prosecutor, no specific regulation exists that would prevent them from acting independent from all other subjects of said proceeding or from exercising the rights and powers granted to them in line with their personal interests. In this context, the question arises as to whether participants are allowed to exercise the rights and powers granted to them in a criminal proceeding in favor of the accused and to carry out their activities for the acquittal of the accused. In the absence of any specific regulation, the discussions on the subject are made within the framework of the purpose of participation and the conditions required for valid participation.
The provisions of the Turkish and German criminal procedure codes that regulate the rights and powers of participants impose no obligation for a participant to take sides with the prosecutor or to defend the allegations put forward by the prosecutor in a criminal case. Likewise, the person having been directly harmed by the offense committed is sufficient for obtaining the status of participant and according to this study, revealing a will to punish the accused is not necessary.
The purposes of participation involve public scrutiny and a guarantee of transparency in criminal proceedings as well as the participants’ satisfaction and rehabilitation by having an active role where they can put forward their own ideas for the protection of victims and prevention of secondary victimization. All these purposes are aimed at ensuring that the participant as an independent subject of the criminal proceedings who has various rights and powers is able to act freely in the criminal proceedings in line with their legitimate claims and interests without jeopardizing the objective of achieving material truth. Participants are not organically linked to the public prosecutor’s office, nor are they obliged to consider public interests and balance as the prosecutor is.
How to defend the personal interest of participants ideally remains a matter of their own choice and judgment. In this respect, this study believes the scope of participants’ rights, powers and field of the activity should not be narrowed based on the purpose and function of participation. In fact, a recent decision of the German Federal Court emphasized that participants are entitled to rights and powers as independent judicial subjects and are able to independently exercise these rights and powers in line with their own wishes and interests; in addition, participant activities cannot be made conditional in terms of purpose except for the conditions regulated for participation by law.
The only legal basis in Turkish law that prevents the possibility for a participant to act in favor of the accused in a criminal proceeding can be said to fall under the “complaint requirement as” specifically regulated in Articles 237 and 238 of the Turkish Criminal Procedural Code (TCPC) No. 5271. In terms of participation procedure, this “complaint requirement is considered to” mean the declaration of will to participate in a criminal case and to punish the accused.
This study is of the opinion that legislators have placed participants in the position of individual prosecution through the “complaint requirement mentioned” in the text of Articles 237 and 238 of the TCPC, thus qualifying their field of activity as acting only against the accused. Therefore, a will to participate that does not contain a complaint regarding the offense or the accused, and more specifically a will to participate that contains requests that are likely to result in favor of the accused, do not meet the complaint requirement. Meanwhile, the complaint requirement in German law, known as die Beschwerde, is not required, and the declaration of participation (die Anschlusserklärung) as regulated in Article 396 of the German Criminal Procedural Code is considered sufficient.
Lastly, although no specific regulation exists in either the Turkish or German criminal procedure codes that prevents participants from applying for a legal remedy in favor of the accused, such an application has been stated to be incompatible with the legal conditions for participation and the purpose of participation, as well as the fact that the participant has no legal interest. In fact, while both Turkish and German criminal procedure codes are specifically regulated so that the prosecutor can apply for legal remedies in favor of the accused, this has not been regulated for the participant.
