The offense of intentional injury is regulated under the second section titled “Crimes against Persons” and the second chapter titled “Crimes against Bodily Integrity” of the Turkish Penal Code, between Articles 86-88. Behaviors intentionally committed against the bodily integrity of individuals, causing them pain, impairing their health or perception capabilities, have been defined as crimes and are subject to criminal sanctions.
The right to bodily integrity is protected not only in the criminal law but also in the Constitution, international law, and private law. Article 17 of our Constitution states: “Everyone has the right to life, physical and moral integrity. Except for medical necessities and cases specified in the law, no one shall be subjected to interference with his/her bodily integrity, or to scientific or medical experiments without his/her consent.”
According to Article 86 of the Turkish Penal Code: “A person who intentionally causes pain to another person’s body or impairs their health or perception capabilities shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one to three years.” This article specifies the basic form of the crime.
Causing pain to the body refers to any action that significantly disrupts bodily integrity in a non-trivial way, leading to physical harm. For example, punching someone, hitting them with a stone, pinching, dragging, or burning them with a hot object constitute intentional injury by causing pain to the body.
Intentional injury can also be committed by causing impairment to one’s health. Impairment of health can be understood as any pathological condition that causes discomfort, continues or exacerbates an existing illness, regardless of its duration. Intentionally infecting someone with a microbe, causing pain, or continuing existing pain constitutes impairing health. Intentional injury can also be committed by infecting a person’s body with a virus. For example, transmitting the HIV virus to another person by an AIDS carrier is considered as impairing health.
The crime can also be committed by impairing the perception capabilities. Perception capabilities, briefly, refer to the ability to perceive events happening in one’s surroundings. Rendering a person unaware of their actions by adding an intoxicating or narcotic substance to their food or drink falls within this scope.
The second paragraph of the article states: “If the effect of the intentional injury on the person can be remedied by a simple medical intervention to a degree that is light, a penalty of imprisonment for a term of four months to one year or a judicial fine shall be imposed upon the complaint of the victim.” With this provision, a situation requiring a lesser punishment compared to the first paragraph is explained.
The guide prepared by the Institute of Forensic Medicine, which shows how the crimes of injury in the Turkish Penal Code should be evaluated from a forensic medicine perspective, provides a list for the use of physicians in determining which traumatic changes can be resolved with a simple medical intervention and which cannot. It focuses not only on what constitutes a simple medical intervention and what can be resolved with such intervention, but also on which traumatic changes should be included within the category of minor injuries.
QUALIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES: The third paragraph of Article 86 of the Turkish Penal Code includes the qualifying circumstances of intentional injury offenses specified in the first two paragraphs. Accordingly, if the offense of intentional injury is committed:
Against an ancestor, descendant, spouse, or sibling, Against a person who is unable to defend themselves physically or mentally, Due to the performance of their public duty by the person, By abusing the influence possessed by a public official, With a weapon, In such cases, the penalty to be imposed will be increased by half without requiring a complaint.
If the offense of intentional injury is committed against an ancestor, descendant, spouse, or sibling, the relationship between the parties will be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Turkish Civil Code. The status of spouse is recognized only if there is a marriage that has taken place in accordance with the Turkish Civil Code. The concept of sibling includes situations where the parties share the same biological parents as well as situations where they have the same mother or father. Ancestor, as a civil law concept, refers to individuals from whom a person is descended, including mothers, fathers, grandparents, and great-grandparents. This qualifying circumstance does not apply to step relatives. Therefore, stepmother, stepfather, stepchild are not included in this category.
A person who is unable to defend themselves physically or mentally due to their physical or mental condition is someone who is incapable of protecting themselves due to advanced age, illness, disability, or mental or physical weakness.
If the offense of intentional injury is committed due to the performance of a person’s public duty, the act must be related to the duties performed by the public official. It is not necessary for the act to be committed during the performance of the duty. Acts of injury committed against a person who is retired or on leave due to their duty will also be considered within this qualifying circumstance. For example, if a retired judge is assaulted by a person who has been convicted by the judge in a previous case, this qualifying circumstance will be applicable. According to Article 6/1-c of the Turkish Penal Code, a public official is defined as “a person who participates in public activity by appointment, election, or any other means on a permanent, temporary, or occasional basis.” Activities carried out by exercising state authority and power are considered public duties.
If the offense of intentional injury is committed by abusing the influence possessed by a public official, the penalty will also be increased by half. It is not sufficient for the perpetrator to be a public official alone; they must also have abused their influence to commit this crime. Therefore, this qualifying circumstance will not apply to intentional injury offenses committed for personal reasons. For example, while this qualifying circumstance can be applied to a police officer who kicks a protester lying on the ground during a public event, it cannot be applied to a police officer who goes to the house of a debtor who has not paid their debt and assaults that person.
The use of a weapon is another qualifying circumstance of the offense of intentional injury. The definition of a weapon is provided in Article 6/f of the Turkish Penal Code. According to this definition, the term weapon includes firearms, explosive materials, any kind of piercing, cutting, or blunt instruments made for use in attack and defense, as well as other objects that are suitable for use in attack and defense even if they are not specifically made for that purpose, as well as incendiary, corrosive, injurious, suffocating, poisonous, causing continuous illness, nuclear, radioactive, chemical, and biological substances. For example, familiar tools such as handguns, clubs, and knives are considered weapons, and objects such as stones or wooden objects that are suitable for use in attack and defense are also considered weapons.
AGGRAVATED CIRCUMSTANCES DUE TO THE RESULT OF THE CRIME:
An aggravated crime due to the result refers to a type of offense where the outcome of the crime is more severe than expected, warranting a harsher punishment for the perpetrator. There are two types of aggravated crimes based on the result. The first is when the action produces a more serious consequence than intended, and the second is when a different consequence occurs from what the offender intended. Article 87/1, 2, 3 of the Turkish Penal Code provides examples of crimes that result in more severe outcomes, while Article 87/4 pertains to cases where a different consequence arises.
Typically, the aggravated outcome involves the death of the victim. For example, when the injury leads to the death of the victim (Article 87/4).
To hold the perpetrator responsible for causing the victim’s death as a result of intentional injury, the act must be of sufficient severity to constitute the basic form of intentional injury. In cases where the victim dies as a result of minor injury (such as a punch to the abdomen), the offender can only be held accountable for causing death by negligence (Article 85/1).
The aggravated circumstances that escalate the crime of intentional injury are regulated in Article 87 of the Turkish Penal Code:
(1) In cases where intentional injury causes the victim:
- Permanent impairment of one of the senses or organs,
- Continuous speech difficulties,
- Permanent disfigurement on the face,
- A life-threatening situation,
- Premature birth of a child in the case of an assault against a pregnant woman, the punishment determined according to Article 86 will be increased by one degree. However, the penalty imposed shall not be less than three years for cases falling under the first paragraph and less than five years for cases falling under the third paragraph.
(2) In cases where intentional injury causes the victim:
- An incurable disease or a vegetative state,
- Loss of function of one of the senses or organs,
- Loss of speech or reproductive capabilities,
- Continuous alteration of the face,
- Miscarriage of a child in the case of an assault against a pregnant woman, the punishment determined according to Article 86 will be increased by two degrees. However, the penalty imposed shall not be less than five years for cases falling under the first paragraph and less than eight years for cases falling under the third paragraph.
(3) In cases where intentional injury causes bone fractures or dislocations in the body, the punishment determined according to Article 86 will be increased by up to half, depending on the impact of the fracture or dislocation on life functions.
(4) If death occurs as a result of intentional injury, the punishment shall be imprisonment for a period ranging from eight to twelve years for cases falling under the first paragraph of Article 86, and from twelve to sixteen years for cases falling under the third paragraph.
The crime of intentional injury is generally prosecuted ex officio. However, in cases requiring simple medical intervention as stated in Article 86/2 of the Turkish Penal Code, prosecution is subject to a complaint. Nevertheless, if the crime of intentional injury creates a situation necessitating simple medical intervention and also involves aggravated circumstances warranting an increased penalty, such as when the intentional injury is committed against an ascendant, descendant, spouse, or sibling, the prosecution will be initiated ex officio. For example, in cases of domestic violence between spouses… The investigation and prosecution of aggravated injury offenses due to the result are also conducted ex officio.
Regarding cases falling under the first and second paragraphs of intentional injury, the competent court is the Criminal Court of First Instance. If the act includes the aggravated elements stated in Articles 86/3 alongside these provisions, the competent court remains the same. For cases falling under the circumstances described in Article 87 of intentional injury, the competent court is the Criminal Court of First Instance for the first three paragraphs, while in cases where death occurs as a result of injury (fourth paragraph), the competent court is the Heavy Penal Court.
Our office, located in the İzmit district of Kocaeli province, provides consultancy and legal representation services in the field of intentional injury, as well as in all other criminal cases, with the assistance of specialized and competent criminal defense attorneys.