Turkey to speed up notoriously slow legal system

Turkey’s justice minister says the government has prepared legislation to speed up Turkey’s agonizingly slow legal system.

Sadullah Ergin said Wednesday that a package of some 100 amendments to laws and the judiciary system will be brought to parliament soon. He says the changes will affect some 2 million ongoing legal cases.

The amendments include provisions to lower the courts’ workload and make it harder for the courts to issue pretrial detention orders. The changes would require courts to provide concrete evidence against suspects before jailing them.

The announcement comes as Turkey faces intense criticism for the slow legal system and long detention periods that have forced suspects to spend years in prison before a verdict is issued.