A number of rights and obligations have been imposed on the witness by the Turkish Criminal Code. Some of them are in the form of coming before the authority that summoned him, taking an oath and making a statement. In order for the trial to reach a fair conclusion, the witness has an obligation to tell the truth. It is defined as a crime in the law to testify with false statements because it is contrary to these obligations.
Since the crime of false testimony is a specific crime in its nature, it can only be committed by witnesses. On the other hand, it should be noted that people who are listened to without being sworn in cannot be the perpetrators of this crime. A victim who has been harmed by a crime can be heard as a witness, unless he is involved in the case, and he may be the perpetrator of a crime of false testimony. If the expert witnesses make a false statement, the ‘crime of expert witness with a statement contrary to the truth’ is committed. The aforementioned crime is decriminalized among crimes against the courthouse, and the state is the victim. The person who testifies against him is also the one who is harmed by the crime on the part of the party.
TCK m.according to 272/1, the main form of this crime is to testify against the truth in front of a person authorized to listen to witnesses or a board as part of an investigation initiated due to an unlawful act. The investigation in the relevant regulation applies only to the judicial investigation in which the Public Prosecutor is in charge. The person or board authorized to listen to witnesses are judicial law enforcement officers, officials No. 4483 and other public officials, persons appointed for preliminary examination in accordance with the law on the trial of arbitrators, foreign authorities. It is de facto to testify to this crime in violation of the truth. Accordingly, the element of the verb can be realized by storing information about the incident subject to litigation, making a statement contrary to the truth, or denying the truth. On the other hand, a witness’s testimony contrary to the truth does not always lead to the formation of a false witness offense. The main thing here is that the witness describes the event as he perceives it. In summary, the perception and explanations of the witness are taken into consideration. Although there is a contradiction between the narratives, there is no evidence that the crime of perjury occurred, and a decisiveness decision is not made here until the defendant is found to have lied.
In addition to the objective information obtained by the witness about the events he has heard or seen, his personal impressions are not included in the witness statement. In other words, even if the witness’s own assessments are contrary to the truth, it does not constitute a crime. In addition, the witness is required to tell in full everything that he has seen. The state of silence, on the other hand, gives rise to this crime if the stored matter is of importance or indisputably important that may affect the judgment for the court.
After the false testimony has occurred, the crime of false testimony will occur, even if a public lawsuit has not been filed against the person who testified against him or a decision has been made that there is no room for punishment. For the formation of a crime, false testimony is not required to cause any particular harm or be effective in sentencing. The fact that the trial took place incorrectly is sufficient for the crime to occur. In order for the relevant crime to occur, the testimony made contrary to the truth must have the opportunity to influence the outcome of the case. Witness statements consist of two parts: information about the incident that is the subject of the case and information about the identity. If the answers to the identity are false, no crime will occur, since the identity statements are not technically included in the witness statement. The essence of this crime is formed by statements about the incident that is the subject of the lawsuit.
In order for a crime to occur, a person must knowingly and willingly give false testimony. The provisions of participation apply to the person who is referred for the crime of false testimony. (the person is the defender’s guide)
For the admission of the existence of a crime of perjury, it is necessary to have conclusive evidence. Partial inaccuracies in the details that will occur in the witness statement for reasons such as forgetfulness cannot be qualified as false testimony. The words said by mistake or unknowingly and the elements of the crime of false testimony are not formed.The fact that the perpetrator gave false testimony by intimidation and deception also does not lead to the formation of this crime.
The relevant crime is TCK 272. It is regulated by the first paragraph of the article and its sanction is imprisonment from 4 months to 1 year. The court in charge is the Criminal Court of First Instance. The statute of limitations for a criminal case is 8 years. Complaints are not required for this crime, which is officially investigated and prosecuted.
QUALIFIED CASES OF THE CRIME;
Anyone who testifies contrary to the truth before a court or a person authorized by law to listen to witnesses by taking an oath or before a board is sentenced to imprisonment from one to three years;
A prison sentence of two to four years is imposed on a person who has given false testimony as part of an investigation or prosecution of a crime that requires a prison sentence of more than three years; .
If any other protection measure other than detention and arrest has been applied in relation to the person who has testified against him, the penalty to be given will be increased by half, provided that it has been decided that there is no room for an acquittal or prosecution against him for not committing the actual act that has been committed;
He referred to the detention or arrest of people testified against him in case of acquittal did not commit because the decision about the actual loaded or made a decision on whether to prosecute is provided; the provisions on the crime of deprivation of Liberty according to people who also false witness, the perpetrator will be responsible as indirect;
If a person who testifies against him is sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment or life imprisonment, he is sentenced to imprisonment from twenty to thirty years;
If the execution of the prison sentence for which the person who testified against him was convicted has been started, the punishment to be given according to the sixth paragraph will be increased by half.
If a judicial or administrative sanction other than imprisonment has been applied against the person who has testified against him; the person who has given false testimony is punished with a prison sentence of three to seven years.
REASONS FOR MITIGATING PUNISHMENT
a) Giving false testimony in relation to a matter that may cause him, his superior, subordinate, spouse or brother to be investigated and prosecuted,
b) Although he has the right to abstain from testifying, if he testifies contrary to the truth without being reminded of this right, he may be reduced in the punishment to be given, as well as he may refuse to give a punishment.
