Intentional injury: complaint, mediation and sentencing ranges

In an intentional injury case the decisive document is not the indictment but the forensic medical report. If the report says the injury was light enough to be remedied by simple medical intervention, the file goes one way; if it says it could not be, the file goes somewhere else entirely. The right to complain, the possibility of mediation and the sentencing range all hang on that one sentence.

The simple medical intervention test

The law separates the basic form of intentional injury from the form whose effect can be remedied by simple medical intervention (basit tıbbi müdahale).

Where the effect is light enough to be remedied by simple medical intervention, the offence depends on a complaint and the sentencing range is lower; a judicial fine may also be imposed. For injuries beyond that threshold no complaint is required and the investigation is opened of the authorities' own motion.

The assessment is not left to the individual doctor's judgement but follows the criteria used in forensic medicine practice. Superficial grazes and bruises usually fall in the first group, while a bone fracture, a cut requiring stitches or an injury to an internal organ fall in the second. If you disagree with the report, a fresh examination or a report from the Council of Forensic Medicine (Adli Tıp Kurumu) can be requested.

Aggravated forms: no complaint needed, sentence rises

Committing the injury in the circumstances listed in the law increases the sentence by half and removes the requirement of a complaint. Those circumstances are:

• Committing it against an ascendant, a descendant, a spouse, a former spouse or a sibling
• Committing it against a person unable to defend themselves physically or mentally
• Committing it because of a public duty the person carries out
• Commission by a public official abusing their position
• Commission with a weapon
• Commission out of cruelty

The notion of a "weapon" is not limited to firearms; any cutting, piercing or bruising implement capable of being used in an attack may be treated as one.

Injury with aggravated consequences

Where the injury has caused a more serious result than the perpetrator intended, the sentence is increased further. The results listed in the law include permanent weakening or loss of the function of a sense or an organ, permanent difficulty in speaking, a permanent mark on the face, causing a condition that endangers life, and causing premature birth where the offence is committed against a pregnant woman.

The presence of these results is also established by medical report. "Danger to life" and "permanent mark on the face" are the headings argued over most in the file, because they raise the sentencing range noticeably.

The complaint period and withdrawal

Where the offence depends on a complaint, the period is six months from the date the act and the identity of the perpetrator became known. Withdrawal of a complaint leads to the case being dropped where a prosecution has been opened, but the withdrawal must also be accepted by the defendant. If the defendant does not accept it, the trial continues and an acquittal becomes possible.

Where several people were injured in the same incident, the withdrawal of one of them does not affect the others.

The scope of mediation

The basic form of intentional injury, and the form whose effect can be remedied by simple medical intervention, fall within victim–offender mediation. Aggravated forms are outside it. Injury by omission and injury by negligence also fall within mediation.

Once the file reaches the mediation bureau, the mediator puts an offer to each party separately. Where a settlement is reached and the agreed obligation performed, a decision follows that there are no grounds for prosecution, or that the case is dropped.

Self-defence and unjust provocation

Defence against an attack is treated as self-defence where it is proportionate to the attack, and no sentence is imposed. Where proportionality was exceeded, the sentence may be reduced.

Where the injury was committed under the influence of anger or distress caused by a wrongful act, the rules on unjust provocation (haksız tahrik) apply, and the sentence is reduced at set rates according to the gravity of the provocation. Where both parties were injured, which side began the wrongful conduct is established as far as possible through witness accounts and camera footage.

That is why two steps taken immediately after the incident can change the course of the file: going to hospital for a forensic examination, and asking for the camera footage from the scene to be secured before it is overwritten.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice on any specific matter. Sentencing ranges and aggravated forms may be updated as legislation changes.