Video camera recordings in criminal procedure law

This study was prepared with the aim of examining the problems arising from the current practice of using recordings taken through video cameras for different purposes in criminal procedure law in Turkey by considering fundamental rights and freedoms and sharing solution proposals. In this respect, not only in our country but also in the world, the fact that these recordings are used in court proceedings, where the cameras can be placed, for how long they will record and even how long these recordings will be stored has become a topic of current debate. Therefore, within the scope of the study, the legislation, opinions and practices regarding video camera recordings in Turkey will be compared with the decisions of other countries and international institutions, organizations and courts, and thus, it will be tried to examine to what extent our legislation and current practice not only take into account camera recordings but also the rights they are closely related to, and concrete opinions and solution proposals will be presented. The study was designed in four sections in the light of these evaluations. The first section is devoted to the explanation of the concepts related to the subject, and the second section of the study is devoted to camera recordings taken to support a transaction in criminal procedure law. As it has been determined, camera recordings can sometimes be used to record a person's statement and sometimes to record a physical situation. The third section of the study is devoted to secret investigation measures, which are an important aspect of video camera recordings in criminal procedure law. In this respect, both the monitoring protection measure with technical means and the secret investigator measure and the situations where camera recording is envisaged will be evaluated, developments in the legislation, discussions in the doctrine and current practices, and the approaches of different countries' practices that can also be beneficial in terms of discussions in our country will be pointed out. The fourth and last section of the study is devoted to video camera recordings that are not directly regulated in the criminal procedure law but may have an indirect effect.