OSCE Match-Fixing Report: The Right to a Fair Trial, Judicial Independence and Analysis of Selective Liability
This report examines the criminal proceedings brought against law-enforcement officers who participated in the 2010–2011 match-fixing investigation in Türkiye, with particular focus on the right to a fair trial, judicial independence and individual criminal responsibility.
The original investigation involved court-authorised interception of communications, technical and physical surveillance, digital material and financial evidence, and subsequently passed through domestic judicial proceedings as well as proceedings involving the Turkish Football Federation, UEFA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. Years later, separate criminal proceedings were brought against police officers involved in the investigation, including charges relating to document falsification, false accusation, confidentiality of communications and membership of an armed terrorist organisation.
The report does not seek to determine afresh whether match-fixing occurred. Instead, it examines whether criminal liability attributed to the investigating officers was established through specific and individualised evidence, whether changes in the judicial panel and the treatment of earlier judicial decisions complied with fair-trial guarantees, and whether the defendants were afforded adequate access to evidence and an effective opportunity to present their defence.
It further addresses concerns relating to the de facto reassessment of judicial decisions through police reports, the requirement to establish individual intent and causation for each defendant, changes in the composition of the trial panel shortly before judgment, and the exceptionally severe sentences imposed in the subsequent proceedings. The report assesses these issues against OSCE, United Nations, Council of Europe and European human-rights standards.
SRL_SWISS_OSCE_MATCH_FIXING_REPORT_LEGAL_ENGLISH
