MEDIA MONITORING DATABASE
The Constitutional Court: Failure to Give Inmates Newspapers and Magazines Violates Freedom of Expression
RELATED PERSON OR INSTITUTION
All media
LAST UPDATED
02/10/2019
TYPE OF STATEMENT
Political
MEDIUM
Print Media
THE TITLE OF WHOSE RIGHT IS INTERFERED
Media Outlet
RIGHTS GUARANTEED UNDER THE RIGHT OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Right to Access to Information and Ideas
TYPE OF INTERFERENCE
Interferences by the Executive Power
Penal Institutions
Obstruction of access to printed publications
THE LEGAL GROUNDS FOR INTERFERENCE
Other Laws

For the individual application of 15 inmates including Recep Bekik, the Constitutional Court decided that the non-delivery of periodicals such as magazines and newspapers bought by them was a violation of the freedom of expression which was guaranteed by the Article 26 of the Constitution.

In its decision, the Constitutional Court has referred to “a structural problem” in the current system when it comes to accepting publications to penal institutions. The court has concluded that in evaluating to decide whether they will accept the newspapers and magazines or not, the prisons do not follow “consistent criteria as put forward by the Constitutional Court.” The Constitutional Court ruled that each applicant be paid 500 TL. The decision on 27 March was published in the Official Gazette on 21 May.