The number of death sentence files awaiting to be taken...

The number of death sentence files awaiting to be taken up by the Parliamentary Justice Commission reached 61.
The 61 cases call for capital punishment for 117 people, but they will have to be taken up again in the wake of the amendment to Constitution under which capital punishment can be handed down only in times of war and on terrorists.
Under the legal procedures, capital punishment files are sent to the Prime Minister's office by the Justice Ministry after the appeals process is complete. After that, the files are transferred to the Parliamentary Justice Commission to be discussed in the form of a Prime Ministerial Note. Completing negotiations on the note, the Justice Commission then prepares a report for the execution of the sentence, and it is submitted to President for approval, if Parliament passes the report. The sentence is executed only after being approved by President and published in the Official Gazette.
However, the Justice Commission has not included any death sentence files in its agenda since 1984. Of the 117 people condemned to death, 32 people got capital punishment on the grounds that they took part in the terrorist activities of PKK aimed at establishing a breakaway state. Forty-one other inmates are on death row for having attempted to change the Constitutional system through the use of force.