Complaint Period, Statute Of Limitations And Competent Court For The Crime Of Entering Military Forbidden Zones
The crime of entering military forbidden zones in Article 332 of the Turkish Penal Code is not one of the crimes subject to complaint and is investigated ex officio by the prosecutor’s office. In other words, there is no complaint period for these crimes. The withdrawal of the complaint does not result in the dismissal of the criminal case. The crime can be investigated at any time, provided that the statute of limitations is observed.
Statute of limitations is regulated in Article 66 of the Turkish Penal Code and is a criminal law institution that results in the dismissal of the criminal case if a certain period of time has elapsed from the date of the crime and the case has not been filed or the case has not been concluded within the legal period despite the filing of a lawsuit. In the proceedings for the offense of entering military restricted areas, the ordinary statute of limitations for the act in the first paragraph of Article 331 of the TPC is 8 years, while the statute of limitations for the act in the second paragraph is 15 years. The offense can be investigated at any time within this statute of limitations; no investigation can be conducted after the statute of limitations has expired.
However, the court in charge of the offense of entering military restricted areas is the criminal court of first instance.
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