I Have Been Complained Of: What Should I Do?

In short

Being complained of may open the door of an investigation; it does not mean that the offence is established.

A complaint may open the door of an investigation; it does not mean that the offence is established.

Preparation for the statement stands apart.

A counter-complaint is not the right door in every file.

Related articles: the investigation.

The first practical order

1. Keep the paper that was served; do not narrate the event on social media.
2. Avoid a deletion that would give birth to an appearance of destroying evidence.
3. Do not speak like a witness before the capacity is clear.

Build the difference between a complaint and a finding of guilt correctly

A person making a complaint about you does not mean that it has become definite that the offence was committed, or that you are guilty. A complaint is the notification of an event to the public prosecutor's office or to the law-enforcement authority, and a request that it be investigated. The purpose of a criminal investigation is not only to confirm the account of the person who complained; it is to assess the evidence for and against together.

This separation should not be used to belittle the complaint either. The complaint may not be correct; a summons in proper form, a service, and requests for evidence should still be followed seriously. The starting point of the defence is not one of the thoughts "there is a complaint, so I will be convicted" or "it is baseless, I need do nothing". The correct start is to learn what the allegation is, and which facts it rests on.

The presumption of innocence requires that a person not be treated as guilty until a definite judgment is built about them. The right of defence, by contrast, is not a passive safeguard that operates by itself. It is necessary to attend the summons, to protect the evidence, to check the record, and to follow the procedural periods.

Confirm the reality of the complaint through the official channel

The information that there is a complaint about you is sometimes learned by an official service, sometimes by a law-enforcement summons, and sometimes by the word of third persons. A message on social media, or information a mutual acquaintance passed on, does not by itself prove the existence and the content of the file. Before reaching the other side, the competent unit, the file number, and the purpose of the summons should be confirmed.

In the summons document, or in the meeting held with the competent unit, the following information may be looked for:

• The chief public prosecutor's office or the law-enforcement unit conducting the proceeding
• The investigation number
• Your capacity in the file
• The date and place for the statement or for another proceeding
• The document you are asked to bring with you

Persons who ask by telephone for money, a password, or remote access should not be accepted as an official. For confirming the file, the UYAP Citizen Portal and the official contact information of the institutions may be used. While confirming the information, learning only the information of the proceeding is enough, instead of narrating the details of the event on the telephone unprepared.

Learn the charge, but do not produce an assumption about the file

A defence cannot be prepared before it is known which act, date, and person the complaint relates to. There may be more than one event, a mutual application, or a civil action between the same parties. Presenting a document with an assumption of "they must have complained about that argument" may carry an unrelated subject into the file.

The suspect has a right to learn the basic frame of the charge directed at them. The scope of access to the file may change according to the stage of the investigation and to the legal limitations. Preparation should be made through the known allegation and the existing records, instead of making a guess about a document that cannot be reached. The possible stages of the flow of the investigation are explained in the guide how does a prosecutor's investigation work?.

The name of the offence is not limited to the expression the parties used in everyday language either. Saying "they defrauded", "they threatened", or "they slandered" does not mean that the event fits that type of offence automatically. The elements of the act, the intent, the context, and the evidence are examined separately.

Avoid direct contact with the other side

The first reaction of a person who learns of the complaint is often to call the other side and ask the reason. This conduct, even if it is in good faith, may give birth to new risks. The call or the message may be interpreted as pressure, a threat, an insult, an admission under the name of an apology, or an attempt to affect the evidence. If there is a ban on communication or a protection order in the file, the contact may be counted as a breach of that order separately.

Sending news through mutual acquaintances is not a safe method either. Insistence in the direction of "withdraw your complaint" may be narrated differently by third persons. If communication truly needs to be established, after the legal character of the file is learned, representatives or the official mediation channel may be preferred.

It should also be known that withdrawing the complaint does not close the file automatically for every offence. Some offences depend on a complaint, while some are investigated of the office's own motion. For this reason, making the other side's withdrawal into the only plan of defence would not be right.

Protect the existing evidence and build a chronology

The reliability of the defence rests on records close to the time of the event and whose integrity was preserved, much more than on an explanation produced after the event. Messages, emails, call records, camera images, payment documents, contracts, location data, and witness information may be important according to the character of the file. Every record, however, must have been obtained lawfully.

In the preparation of the evidence, the following order may be followed:

• Write the events in the order of date and time.
• Separate what you observed yourself from information you heard from someone else.
• Keep the original digital data without deleting or editing it.
• Note which document is related to which allegation.
• If there is a risk of the records being lost, assess a lawful method of establishing them.

A screenshot, although useful in some situations, may not prove by itself the before and the after of the conversation, or the owner of the account. The original device, the backup information, and the chain of messages should be protected. Entering someone else's account without permission, or creating an unlawful sound recording, may give birth to a new dispute instead of providing a benefit to the defence.

Build the defence plan before the statement according to the file

The statement is not the place where thinking about the event begins for the first time. As soon as the summons is received, the charge, the chronology, and the existing evidence should be examined together. If the statement will be given in the capacity of a suspect, safeguards such as benefiting from the help of defence counsel and the right to silence are assessed. Using the same statement in every file, or a template found on the internet, damages the genuine reality of the defence.

During the preparation, three questions are useful:

• What exactly is the act that is alleged?
• What might the evidence said to support this allegation be?
• What are the lawful records that show the context of the event, or the contrary direction?

It is possible to state that something is not remembered, instead of completing an unknown detail with a guess. If the question is not understood, it is asked that it be explained. The record of the statement is read from beginning to end before the signature, and mistakes are corrected. For a detailed preparation, the content before giving a statement may be examined.

The right to silence, presenting a document, and a request for evidence in one's favour

The right to silence is the safeguard that the suspect is not forced to make a statement that incriminates them. Using the right is not an acceptance of the offence. The right to silence does not, however, mean destroying the evidence or obstructing the proceedings of the competent authority that are in accordance with the statute. On which subject a statement will be given, which document will be presented, and when the defence will be widened, should be planned according to the file.

The suspect may ask that concrete evidence in their favour be collected. For example, if a camera recording that will be deleted in a short time, an institution entry record, or a bank movement is important, this needs to be stated clearly. Instead of general requests such as "let everything be investigated", where the evidence is and which fact it will show should be told.

A copy of the document that is presented should be kept, and its delivery should appear on the record. If an original document will be given, the record of delivery carries importance separately. In digital files, the preservation of the source and of the integrity is assessed as much as the content.

Do not mix a counter-complaint with the defence

The event between the parties may contain mutual allegations of an offence. If there is truly an insult, a threat, violence, or another breach directed at you, this subject may turn into an application with its own evidence. Building an unfounded charge with only the thought "they complained of me, so I will complain of them" is not right, however.

A counter-complaint does not end the first file. Each allegation is examined from the side of its separate elements and evidence. The defence in the first file cannot be left as consisting of saying that the other side also behaved wrongly. Although the context of the event is important, whether the act that is charged happened, and its legal character, should be explained separately.

Before making a new application against a person you think made an unfounded charge of an offence, the difference among wrong information, an error of assessment, and a charge knowingly contrary to the truth should be observed. A criminal application should not be turned into a tool of pressure or of bargaining.

If a mediation proposal arrives, understand its scope

In some offences determined in the statute, a mediation process may come onto the agenda. Not every complaint is subject to mediation. The criminal character of the file and the legal scope are taken as the basis. The authorised mediator mediates the parties' discussing, with free will, a performance or another solution; there is no obligation for one of the parties to accept the proposal.

When the proposal arrives, the following points should be examined:

• For which act the file was sent to mediation
• Whether the performance that is proposed is clear and capable of being carried out
• The time and the form of performance
• The effect of the mediation on the criminal investigation
• The sustainability of the financial or other obligation

An unprepared acceptance may give birth to an obligation that cannot be performed later. An automatic refusal may also remove the possibility of the file being resolved. For the working of the process, the article what is mediation? is complementary.

Follow the possible results of the investigation, and the service

After the statement, the public prosecutor's office may hear a witness, have an expert or a digital examination made, and write to institutions. If the evidence forms a sufficient suspicion for a public prosecution to be opened, an indictment may be drawn up. If it is not found sufficient, a decision of non-prosecution may come onto the agenda. Each of the decisions has its own regime of notification and of application.

If a change of address is not notified, or electronic notifications are not followed, an important service may be missed. The file number, the record of the statement, the list of documents delivered, and the summons paper should be kept together. Although the density of files in Ankara may affect the duration of the proceeding, it does not remove the responsibility for service and for the application.

An indictment being drawn up does not mean a conviction; it shows that the stage of the trial has been passed to. At this stage the criminal character, the evidence, the preparation for the hearing, and the protective measures if there are any, are assessed again. Even if the file appears closed, the records should not be destroyed before the definite state of the decision is learned.

Errors often made

The errors people about whom there is a complaint often make are mostly the result of the first panic. Among these, calling the other side as if threatening them, deleting the messages, teaching an account to mutual witnesses, and discussing the file on social media, come to the fore. Such conduct may produce new evidence independent of the first allegation.

The other important errors are these:

• Leaving the official summons unanswered, taking it as baseless
• Sending a long written explanation before the file is seen
• Trying to collect evidence by an unlawful method
• Not correcting the mistake in the record before the signature
• Taking the counter-complaint as the only method of defence
• Accepting the mediation proposal without reading its conditions
• Not following the address for service and the movements of the file

Staying calm is not staying passive. Protecting the documents and conducting each step with a record provides that the right of defence is used in a measured and effective way.

A closing assessment

When you learn that you have been complained of, first confirm the file, learn the charge, and avoid direct contact with the other side. Build the chronology of the event, protect the original evidence, and determine the strategy of the statement according to the concrete structure of the file. The existence of the complaint does not create guilt by itself; neglecting the summons and the services, however, may weaken the possibility of a defence.

This text is for general information. The type of offence, dependence on a complaint, the evidence, and the relation of the parties differ in every file; a concrete assessment with the current legislation is needed. For the general structure of the process, criminal law may be looked at, for preparation of the statement before giving a statement, and for the decisions of the investigation the headings of a prosecutor's investigation.

Where the complaint paper is read

The complaint paper is not counted as a conviction. A term of imprisonment is not written. The office being in Çankaya does not choose the competent public prosecutor's office; this is read from the complaint record. Preparation for the statement is not built before the capacity is clear.

Conclusion

This article is for general information. The document, the period, and the procedure of the concrete event should be read separately; there is no promise of a result from memory.