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The second hearing of the case concerning the killing of Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Tahir Elçi was held at the Diyarbakır 10th Heavy Penal Court.
The plaintiffs, their attorneys, NGO representatives and lawmakers were present in the courtroom.
The defendant police officers claimed that they did not shoot in the direction of Elçi. The court rejected the plaintiffs' request for the arrest of the officers.
Elçi was shot dead while making a statement for the press in Sur, Diyarbakır, on November 28, 2015.
The trial of the killing started nearly five years later, on October 21, 2020.
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Türkan Elçi: Hope is our lifeline
After the court accepted the involvement of Türkan Elçi, the spouse of Tahir Elçi and a lawyer, in the case, she made the first statement.
She briefly said the following as reported by the "Tahir Elçi Case" account on Twitter:
"As it is known, the first steps of the search for justice in a murder case would be taken in this hall 132 days ago. We were hopeful. Although more than five years had passed, we were hopeful.
"Considering the general atmosphere we live in, the word 'hope' may have lost its credibility for most people, but one who is really aggrieved can never stop hoping because hope is their lifeline.
"As many relatives of the missing people believed that one day those who had gone will return,
"We have respect for your office, which was named 'the dispenser of justice' 132 days ago ... However, the office we respected threatened us to throw us out. We are in a state that we know that your office is given the opportunity to throw someone out, but when the authority moves away from values such as conscience and empathy, there remains a power that will break communication and shake trust.
"However, the legal order is an invaluable blessing that promises a life in a sense of trust. It is quite easy to threaten to throw out an aggrieved person like me because there is an immense power of premises behind you.
"We have neither the power of the state nor walls to lean on. We only have the voices of the dead who always walk with us.
"It shouldn't be forgotten that justice is one of the most important common values that human beings have been pursuing since their existence."
"We want to protect everyone from unsolved murders"
After Elçi, attorney Beydağ Tıraş-Öneri spoke in the name of the plaintiffs, explaining why they wanted to be involved in the case:
"From the 35th to the 37th page of the indictment of this criminal case; the difficulties in identifying the perpetrators responsible for the murder of Tahir Elçi, the impossibilities of crime scene investigations, why some examinations could not be carried out and why some examinations could not be done are explained. In other words, it is understood that the deficiencies in the activity of allegations and in the investigations have become the subject of the indictment.
"In our law, it is ensured that the person who has been harmed by the crime is also involved in the prosecution.
"We cannot be the prosecution authority as individuals. We have to be able to exist alongside the social claim and for this reason, we want to participate in the criminal case.
"We want to involve in the case because we are of the opinion that we have the 'right to hearing' in the case of the murder of our colleague, lawyer Tahir Elçi from Cizre. Thus, we can involve in this trial effectively and efficiently.
"Beyond seeing how will the damage we have suffered because of the murder or our colleague will be eliminated ... we want to determine the legal fate of the right to defense on this land and to protect everyone from unsolved murders ..."
Requests for particiation
The Diyarbakır Bar Association, the Tahir Elçi Human Rights Foundation, the Gaziantep Bar Association, the Van Bar Association, the Human Rights Agenda Association, the Mardin Bar Association, the Urfa Bar Association, the Ankara Bar Association, the Şırnak Bar Association, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, the Association of Lawyers for Freedom, the Progressive Lawyers Association requested to participate in the case.
The court accepted the requests by Türkan Elçi, Mehmet Elçi, Ömer Elçi and the Diyarbakır Bar Association and rejected other requests.
The indictmentThe indictment was lodged by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on March 26, 2020, and accepted by the 10th Heavy Penal Court on April 3, 2020. While there are five complainants, including the wife of late lawyer Türkan Elçi, in the 40-page indictment, there are four accused suspects, among whom are also three police officers. Police officers S.T., M.S. and F.T. face the charges of "causing death by culpable negligence" as per Article 85/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The indictment demands 2 to 6 years in prison for the officers. Uğur Yakışır, the other suspect, also faces the charges of "wilful killing, killing with eventual intent, opposition to Law no. 6136 on Firearms and Knives, disrupting the unity of the state and integrity of the country, damaging property." The indictment demands an aggravated life sentence for Yakışır, who is also accused of murdering police officers Cengiz Erdur and Ahmet Çiftaslan, who were killed on the same day with Tahir Elçi. What happened?Tahir Elçi attended a live TV program on CNN Türk hosted by Ahmet Hakan on October 15, 2015. Elçi said, "The PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] is not a terrorist organization." While the channel was fined 700 thousand lira over these words, Tahir Elçi was detained in his office in Diyarbakır Bar Association and taken to İstanbul on November 20. While the prosecutor's office referred Elçi to court with a request for his arrest, the Bakırköy 2nd Heavy Penal Court released him on probation. A bill of indictment was brought against Elçi on the charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization." Elçi faced up to 7.5 years in prison. Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Tahir Elçi was murdered while making a statement for the press in front of the Four-Legged Minaret in Sur, Diyarbakır on November 28, 2015. |
(AS/VK)
