'In principle, we are against wearing a uniform dress for prisoners'
Mehmet Karadağ, Chairman of the Human Rights Society, evaluating the statements about putting uniform dresses on prisoners, stated that they are in principle against it.
The Chairman of the Human Rights Society [İHC], Mehmet Karadağ, assessed the practice of uniform dressing of prisoners on the agenda of the Ministry of Justice.
Regarding the request of former Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ for the arrest of the defendants of the FETO with the uniform dress, Karadağ said it was not a good punishment policy to aggrieve the people, to treat them like a dirt or to treat them as a result of total exclusion from society.
Karadağ expressed that they are against to the uniform dressing of prisoners as a principle, referring to the disadvantages of society, “First of all, it is not a good punishment policy to treat people like a dirt, to ignore their dignity or to subject them to the consequences that would result in total exclusion from society. On the other hand, there is no regulation on the uniform dress. Even it can be seen in some countries, an arrangement needs to be made, and it needs to be clearly defined.”
Even though the public opinion demand uniform dressing about the proceedings of the FETO’s members, they have reservations as the Human Rights Society said Karadağ and added, “Otherwise, if this subject is exploited, everyone will be put on trial with a uniform dress and we experience this bitter experience in Turkiye. Unfortunately, a law is formed in the hands of practitioners. Sometimes a law is introduced from an environment, but its application manifests itself in a much different way in later periods. So even if the public demand the uniform dressing for the proceedings of the FETO members, we have reservations in this matter. We do not accept it because it is against our principles that even every single one of the FETO members is brought to the court by putting on a single type of dress. The confidence in the judicial system in Turkiye is also will be debated. There are many people who prisoned and released because it understood that there is no any crime he did.”
“I will be limited to give political message”
Karadağ added that the practice of uniform dress will be limited to political messages, “If there are to make a personal arrangement, we want it to be thoroughly investigated, to examine its examples and to decide on its consequences. Otherwise, tomorrow, the defendant who has not been sentenced and who is in detention may be victimized. We are opposed to wearing uniform clothes at this point.” (M. Hüseyin Temel, Mehmet Çelik - ILKHA)