If you or a relative has been arrested in the context of an ongoing investigation, you have a 7-day period to object to this decision. You can appeal against the arrest warrant with an objection to detention petition.

Note: The 7-day period here is the objection to detention period. Even though the petition you will submit after this period has passed is not technically an “objection to detention” petition, it may be a petition requesting release.

By whom and to whom can the objection to detention be filed?

An objection to detention can be filed by the arrested person’s lawyer, legal representative (mother or father, or legal representative who is another person, if any) or spouse.

In our law, arrest is made by the Criminal Judgeships of Peace (Sulh Ceza Hakimliği) during the investigation phase and the objection authority is the Criminal Court of First Instance (Asliye Ceza Mahkemesi) in that region. For example, if the detention decision was issued by the “İstanbul 3. Sulh Ceza Hakimliği” (“Istanbul 3rd Criminal Judgeship of Peace”), the petition of objection should be submitted to the “İstanbul Nöbetçi Asliye Ceaza Mahkemesi” (“Istanbul Criminal Court of First Instance on Duty”). The point you should pay attention to here is that the petition of objection to the detention you will submit to the Criminal Court of First Instance should be submitted to the Criminal Court of Peace that issued the detention decision to be sent to the Criminal Court of First Instance. For example, you should write your petition with the title “İstanbul Nöbetçi Asliye Ceza Mahkemesine Gönderilmek Üzere İstanbul 3. Sulh Ceza Hakimliğine” (“Istanbul 3rd Criminal Judgeship of Peace to be sent to the Istanbul Criminal Court of First Instance on Duty”).

How to Submit a Petition to Appeal Against Detention?

Lawyers can submit their petitions to object to detention to the relevant authority quickly over the internet via UYAP Lawyer Portal. (UYAP is the name of the system used by lawyers in Turkey to carry out legal transactions over the internet).  Citizens, on the other hand, can submit their objection petitions by going to the courthouse and submitting a petition to the Criminal Judge of Peace (Sulh Ceza Hakimliği) who issued the detention decision. It should be noted that it is technically possible for you, as a citizen, to send an objection to detention petition via UYAP Citizen Portal. (If you do not have Turkish residence permit, you can not use the system). In order to do this, you need to prepare your petition in .UDF format with the UYAP Editor program and sign it with e-signature or mobile signature. However, since most citizens do not have e-signature or m-signature, we recommend that you physically submit your objection petitions at the courthouse or send them through a lawyer.

In addition, the petition of objection to detention can also be submitted by the detainee himself/herself. To do this, the detainee must make a statement or apply to the prison administration with a petition stating that he/she objects to the detention.

How to Write a Petition to Object to Detention?

Petitions of objection to detention should be prepared extremely carefully and written in a way that does not leave room for error. Since the Criminal Court of First Instance, which will examine the detention, will make its decision according to this appeal petition, every statement in the petition is of serious importance. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you submit the petition of objection to detention through a lawyer. Nevertheless, if you wish to carry out this process yourself, we share a sample petition of objection with you below. (According to the Turkish Legal System, the language used in courts must be exclusively Turkish. The sample petition is also submitted in Turkish.)