Justice minister slams judges board over statement on judicial police regulation

ANKARA- Anadolu Agency

Bekir Bozdağ exchange his deputy prime minister portfolio with the justice minister position Dec. 26 following a cabinet reshuffle a day earlier. DAILY NEWS photo,

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has slammed the statement from the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) describing the new judicial police regulation obliging those carrying out investigations to inform superiors as “unconstitutional.”

Bozdağ said Dec. 27 the judicial board did not have authority to make such a statement, adding it was made public without his knowledge. 

The controversial regulation “clearly breached the constitution,” the HSYK said in its Dec. 26 statement, adding it also contradicts the principle of separation of powers. 

“In a manner which contradicts the principle that no institution can use a prerogative not take its origin in the law, the Board has invented itself a task on a matter that is not stated in the law,” Bozdağ said in a written statement in his first day after taking office, succeeding Sadullah Ergin. 

Bozdağ also noted a lawsuit was filed in the Council of State against the regulation announced on Dec. 21. “For a board whose basic principle is to protect the independence of the judiciary, to make a statement which contains an absolute conviction that a regulation facing a nullity suit is ‘unconstitutional’ contradicts the principles of rule of law and independence of the judiciary,” Bozdağ said. 

The regulation triggered anger from lawyers and increased concerns on government intervention within the judiciary. 

On Dec. 26, the head prosecutor on a second graft investigation also denounced pressure on the judiciary after he was removed from the case.