The crime of torture in Turkish Criminal Code No. 5237

The offense of torture was first defined in the current criminal law literature in the 1984 The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This definition has been considered as a source norm in terms of the penal legislation of the countries of the world and has been linked to a penal sanction in national penal laws. The offense of torture is a special offense of wounding and is one of the most serious offenses in terms of its unfair content compared to other special offense definitions. Indeed, in the 1982 Constitution numbered 2709, in its 17th article regulating personal rights, after expressing the right to physical integrity, it is clearly stated that torture and torment are prohibited. The offense of torture has been regulated by article 94 and 95 of the Turkish Penal Law numbered 5237, which entered into force on June 1, 2005 and is still in force. With this definition, the fact that the statute of limitations is not foreseen and that it is determined as a offense within the jurisdiction of the high criminal court reveals the seriousness of the unfair content of the offense of torture. The subject of this study is to propose solutions to the problematic issues in practice and theory of this offense definition, which is important in terms of Turkish criminal legislation. While the definition and elements of the offense of torture were determined in a limited manner during the period of the repealed Law No. 765; it was kept more extensive during the period of Law No. 5237. One important reason for this is to prevent human rights violations by ensuring deterrence in punishment. In addition, within the scope of our study, the material, moral and unlawful elements of the offense of torture, special forms of appearance and the investigation-prosecution regime were emphasized. Keywords: Fair trial, punishment, torture, offense, injury