‘OPERATION BACK TO LIFE’ BAYRAMPAŞA CASE
Gendarmerie Command doesn’t give documents to court
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The trial of the "Operation Back to Life" launched against Bayrampaşa Prison as part of "Deluge" plan on December 19, 2000 continued at the Bakırköy 13th Heavy Penal Court yesterday (March 3).
At the 42nd hearing yesterday, the court board announced that the documents requested from the Gendarmerie General Command and İstanbul Provincial Gendarmerie Command had not yet been sent.
Documents not sent by the gendarmerie
At the 39th hearing of the case, Kubilay Aktaş, the then Operation Branch Chair of the Gendarmerie General Command, was heard as a witness.
At that hearing, Aktaş said that "he was at the İstanbul Regional Command in Balmumcu throughout the operations and there was a constant flow of information from the Metris, Ümraniye and Bayrampaşa prisons about what was happening during the operations."
He also said that the operation had a final report and this report was sent to the General Command of Gendarmerie.
Handing down its interim judgement at the 39th hearing, the court board ruled that the information sent by fax and telex and the final report mentioned by Kubilay Aktaş should be requested from both the Gendarmerie General Command and the İstanbul Provincial Gendarmerie Command by sending writs to these two gendarmerie commands.
Months have passed since then; however, the documents requested by the court board have not yet been presented to the court.
At yesterday's hearing, the Bakırköy 13th Heavy Penal Court ruled that another writ should be addressed to the gendarmerie commands and the related documents should be requested from them again.
'I was in the operation, but didn't see anything'
Kamil Ögül, a defendant of the trial who was a first lieutenant at the time of operation and was discharged from the military, attended the hearing via the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS).
In his statement, Ögül said that he was inside the prison and in the hall where the incident happened; but, he said "he had not seen anything."
After defendant Ögül accepted that he was in the yard of the 2nd floor/C Block where the operation was carried out in Bayrampaşa Prison, Güçlü Sevimli, one of the attorneys for the complainants, said that it was where the operation happened and asked a question to him.
However, Ögül said that "they just stood there, did not do anything else and did not see or hear anything like noise, gas bombs or fire."
He also stated that he had his weapon on his waist, but did not use it, adding that he did not see any other weapon.
The next hearing will be held on July 8, 2021.
What happened?During the week of December 19-26, 2000, 10,000 soldiers occupied 48 prisons to end two months of hunger strikes and "death fasts" by hundreds of political prisoners. The hunger strikers were protesting the state's plan to transfer its prisoners from large wards to the US-style "F-type" cells holding one to three inmates Operation "Return to Life" -- which left at least 31 prisoners and two soldiers dead -- lasted a few hours in most prisons, and up to three days at one prison. Eight prisoners were reportedly "disappeared", and at least 426 prisoners were wounded. The first lawsuit regarding the "Return to Life Operation" conducted in Bayrampaşa Prison was filed in 2010, ten years after the incident. The indictment against 37 private soldiers and two non-commissioned officers was filed by Eyüp Public Prosecutor's Office and the ensuing court case has been continuing at the Bakırköy 13th Heavy Penal Court. After the official document entitled "The Deluge (Tufan) Operation Order", according to which the operation was conducted in Bayrampaşa Prison, was submitted to court, the second court case was filed against 157 members of the gendarmerie for "homicide" and "homicidal attempt" in March 2015. |
(AS/SD)