Bar demands forensic medicine regulation change to ensure respect for the dead

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Diyarbakır Bar Association has requested a change in the forensic medicine regulation, in order to ensure respect for the dead. The issue was raised after some incidents where the remains of the bodies of People's Defense Forces (HPG) were delivered to their families in boxes. 

The Bar Association has applied to the Ministry of Justice to complete the missing parts in the regulation of the Forensic Medicine Institute as follows:

"After the identification of the body is determined according to the domestic and international regulations,preparations for the funeral should be made and the delivery of the body to the family from the hospital or the Forensic Medicine Institute should be ensured, and the funeral procedures should be carried out ."

Diyarbakır Bar Association's application includes the following statements:

"After the identification process for the body is completed, the manner in which the body will be delivered to family members and the inclusion of missing statements regarding funeral procedures by the relevant prosecutor's office lead to the unacceptable delivery of the body in a manner (in a box or bag at the courthouse) in practice.

"Everyone has the right to be buried in an honorable manner according to their family traditions, to bury a close relative or someone very dear to them, to fulfill their moral duties, to grieve, mourn, and commemorate the deceased, and regardless of how they are viewed by society and the state, the right to have a grave, which is considered a sacred value and a symbol of memory in all civilizations. Within the framework of humanitarian law, the delivery and burial of the body must be carried out with consideration for humanitarian standards."

(RT/PE)