Acquittal of the prosecutor upheld in 'Return to Life operation' case

Photo: bianet

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The acquittal of Prosecutor Ali İhsan Demirel who carried out the investigation into the "Back to Life Operation" at the Bayrampaşa Prison in 2000, was upheld by the Assembly of Criminal Chambers of the Court of Cassation yesterday (July 26).

Demirel, being charged with "neglect of duty" in this investigation into the deadly operation towards the prisoners during a period when there were massive hunger strikes, was first sentenced to one year of imprisonment, and then acquitted during the retrial in the related case. 

The Assembly of Criminal Chambers of the Court of Cassation ruled that the delay and the deficiencies in this investigation did not result from the proceedings pursued by the prosecutor, but because of "the military officials' reluctance to give the names of the officers that participated in the operation." 

History of the case against the prosecutor

The 5th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation had, in April 2015, sentenced Demirel to 1 year of imprisonment for "misconduct."

The General Assembly of the supreme court later reversed this verdict, claiming that the prosecutor had a workload that is much above the normal. 

In the retrial, the 5th Penal Chamber ruled for acquittal this time. The chief judge and one member of the chamber objected and added an annotation that says Demirel is proven guilty as charged. 

Lawyer: "Cannot be explained with his workload"

While the "workload" of the prosecutor is included as justification in the acquittal, lawyer Güçlü Sevimli believes that this does not reflect the truth.

During the 11 years he was responsible, prosecutor Demirel issued only 11 warrants in the scope of the investigation. 

Lawyer Güçlü Sevimli believes that the last decision to uphold the acquittal is "full of unfounded justifications."

"The fact that he did not pursue the necessary proceedings in the investigation for 11 years, had not taken the statement of even a single suspect, had not taken any action about "the Cyclone Plan" cannot be explained with his workload," Sevimli told bianet. 

“12 years of delay in the investigation”

The Assembly of Criminal Chambers of the Court of Cassation has, just like the 5th Penal Chamber stated that there was a "12 years of delay in the investigation." 

However, the assembly argued that the workload of the prosecutor at that period was much above the normal, and that "there was no evidence that the suspect acted intentionally in order to cause neglect or delay in his duty." 

The ruling argued that the delay was caused because of the military officials' reluctance to give the names of the officers that participated in the operation. 

The next prosecutor filed claims against higher rank soldiers

Prosecutor Ali İhsan Demirel had filed claims against 39 soldiers with the indictment he prepared in 2010 but declared to proceed no further for 214 military officers with higher ranks. The objection of the intervening lawyers was rejected.  The Cyclone Plan entered the case file one year after the opening of the case. A criminal complaint has been made about the plan. However, Prosecutor Demirel opted for non-prosecution.  The intervening lawyers made a criminal complaint against Demirel at this stage and requested that he be dismissed from the case.  The prosecutor who was appointed after Demirel canceled the non-prosecution for the Cyclone Plan and filed claims against higher rank soldiers. The united case is still on trial.

(AS/PE)