The HS Council Announced: When Will Courthouses Reopen? According to the latest reports, the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) decided that hearings and site inspections in first-instance criminal and administrative courts will resume on Tuesday, June 16, 2020. Judicial proceedings had been suspended as part of measures to combat the global coronavirus crisis; first-instance criminal and administrative courts, regional criminal and regional administrative courts were temporarily halted. Within this framework, HSK is authorized to determine all measures, procedures and principles related to postponing hearings and deliberations.
The Council of Judges and Prosecutors has announced its action plan for returning the judiciary to normal operations. The plan, signed by the HSK Vice President, has been communicated to judges and public prosecutors working in courthouses. Following the need to transition to a “new normal”—maintaining daily life under necessary precautions and the measures taken during the coronavirus period—normalization efforts have begun. According to the roadmap announced for this new-normal transition, an extraordinary meeting was held today to assess the situation and ensure that judicial activities continue without interruption while citizens can access legal services in healthy conditions. The decisions made at that extraordinary meeting are summarized below.
Council of Judges and Prosecutors’ Plan for Returning to the New Normal
After the extraordinary meeting, the Council adopted the following decisions regarding the return to the new normal.
- Except for detention reviews (limited to legally required assessments of custody), urgent matters, cases approaching statute-of-limitations, investigation and prosecution files, requests for stay of execution and other urgent procedures, hearings and site inspections in first-instance criminal and administrative courts will remain postponed until Tuesday, June 16, 2020.
- Regional criminal courts of appeal and chief prosecutor’s offices, regional administrative courts, administrative courts and tax courts will resume all legal activities that do not require hearings or site inspections starting June 1, 2020.
- The suspension of initiating public prosecutions will end as of June 1, 2020.
- Aside from hearings and site inspections in first-instance courts, there will be no general suspension of judicial services. Procedures related to combating crime and holding offenders to account, as well as the right to bring cases and allegations before the courts, will be performed without delay except for the specified exceptions.
- Each court and chief public prosecutor’s office must give priority to reviewing case files, taking notes, drafting reasoned decisions, finalizing matters that do not require the parties’ presence at hearings, and carrying out indictment acceptance and case management procedures.
- Due to the increased workload arising from pandemic measures, judges and public prosecutors’ requests for annual leave will not be granted until July 20, 2020.
- Following the narrowing of the scope of those considered on administrative leave in the Presidential Administration’s Personnel and Principles Directorate’s March 13, 2020 notice, judges and public prosecutors aged 60 and over or with chronic illnesses will be considered on administrative leave starting Monday, June 1, 2020.
- For courts and matters overseen by judges and prosecutors on administrative leave, the commission chair and chief public prosecutor will designate on-duty judges and public prosecutors, taking local conditions and equity into account.
- After June 1, 2020, when delivering judicial services, the precautions and instructions set by the Ministry of Health for carrying out forensic and judicial services and the Scientific Board’s related recommendations must be followed.