False Witness Crime And Sanction
The Turkish Criminal Code imposes a number of rights and obligations on the witness. Some of these are to appear before the authority that summons him/her, to take an oath and to make a statement. In order for the trial to reach a fair result, the witness is obliged to tell the truth. Since testifying with false statements is against these obligations, it is defined as a crime in the law.
Since the crime of perjury is a specific crime in nature, it can only be committed by witnesses. On the other hand, it should be noted that persons who are listened to without being made to take an oath cannot be the perpetrators of this crime. Unless the injured party or the victim of the crime is present as an intervener in the case, he/she can be heard as a witness and can be the perpetrator of the crime of perjury. In the event that experts make false statements, the crime of ‘expert witness with false statement’ is committed. The aforementioned crime is regulated among the crimes against the judiciary and the state is the victim. The person against whom the testimony is given is the party who is harmed by the crime.
According to Article 272/1 of the TPC, giving false testimony before the person or committee authorized to hear witnesses within the scope of an investigation initiated due to an unlawful act constitutes the basic form of this crime. 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 hear witnesses are judicial police, persons assigned in the preliminary examination in accordance with the Law No. 4483 on the trial of civil servants and other public officials, arbitrators, foreign authorities. The act of giving false testimony constitutes this offense. Accordingly, the element of the act can be realized by hiding information about the event subject to the case, making a false statement or denying the truth. On the other hand, the witness’s testimony contrary to the truth does not always lead to the crime of perjury. What is important here is that the witness describes the event as he/she perceives it. In summary, the witness’s perception and explanations are taken into consideration. If there is a contradiction between the statements, there is no evidence that the crime of perjury has occurred, and here, the defendant is not sentenced without determining that the defendant has lied.
In addition to the objective information obtained by the witness about the events he heard or saw, 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, they do not constitute a crime. In addition, the witness must fully describe everything he/she saw. The state of silence, on the other hand, gives rise to this crime if the matter withheld is important or indisputably important for the court to affect the verdict.
The crime of false testimony will occur even if no public prosecution is filed against the person against whom the false testimony is given or a decision is made not to impose a penalty. For the crime to occur, it is not required that the false testimony causes a certain damage or has an effect on the judgment. It is sufficient for the crime to occur if the judgment is incorrect. In order for the relevant offense to occur, the false testimony must have the opportunity to affect the outcome of the case. Witness statements consist of two parts: information about the event subject to the case and information about identity. If the answers regarding the identity are false, the offense does not occur since the identity statements are not technically included in the witness statement. The essence of this offense is the statements regarding the event that is the subject of the case.
In order for the crime to occur, the person must knowingly and willingly give false testimony. For the crime of perjury, the provisions of participation are applied to the person who directs the person.
In order to accept the existence of the crime of perjury, there must be conclusive evidence. Partial mistakes regarding the details of witness testimony due to reasons such as forgetfulness cannot be characterized as false testimony. The elements of the crime of perjury do not occur with the words spoken mistakenly or unknowingly. The perpetrator’s bearing false witness by intimidation and deception does not cause the formation of this crime.
The relevant crime is regulated in the first paragraph of Article 272 of the TPC and the sanction is imprisonment from 4 months to 1 year. The competent court is the Criminal Court of First Instance. The statute of limitations for the crime is 8 years. This crime, which is investigated and prosecuted ex officio, does not require a complaint.
Any person who gives false testimony before a court or before a person or committee authorized by law to hear witnesses under oath shall be sentenced to imprisonment from one year to three years;
Any person who gives false testimony within the scope of investigation or prosecution of a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than three years shall be sentenced to imprisonment from two years to four years; .
If a protection measure other than detention or arrest has been applied in relation to the person against whom the testimony has been given, the penalty to be imposed shall be increased by half, provided that an acquittal decision or a decision of non-prosecution has been issued for the person who did not commit the act charged;
In case the person against whom the testimony has been given has been detained or arrested; provided that an acquittal decision or a decision of non-prosecution has been issued for the person who did not commit the act charged; In case the person against whom the testimony is given is convicted to aggravated life imprisonment or life imprisonment, a prison sentence of twenty to thirty years shall be imposed;
In case the person against whom the testimony is given is sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment or life imprisonment, the penalty to be imposed according to the sixth paragraph shall be increased by half if the execution of the prison sentence of the person against whom the testimony is given has begun.
If a judicial or administrative sanction other than imprisonment has been imposed on the person against whom the testimony is given, the person who gives false testimony shall be punished with imprisonment from three to seven years.
REASONS EXtenuating THE PENALTY
a) If he/she gives false testimony in relation to a matter that may lead to an investigation or prosecution of himself/herself, his/her lineal ancestors, descendants, spouse or sibling,
b) Although he/she has the right to abstain from testifying, if he/she gives false testimony without being reminded of this right, the penalty to be imposed may be reduced or the penalty may be waived.