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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has rejected the application regarding the trial of police officers who were responsible for the death of Berkin Elvan in İstanbul during Gezi in 2013. The application was made for the "right to life" and the "right to a fair trial".
Notifying the decision of rejection to the attorneys of Elvan family, the ECtHR has cited the "ongoing trial" as the reason for its rejection, as it was also indicated by Turkey's Constitutional Court.
Shot in his head with a tear gas canister fired by a police officer in İstanbul, Elvan lost his life on March 11, 2014, 269 days after being shot.
Examining the application regarding the trial of the other officers responsible for Elvan's death, the Constitutional Court gave a decision of rejection in February 2020. In rejecting the application, it said that a police officer had already been on trial and that when the related trial was concluded "a lawsuit could be filed anytime" against the other responsible people:
"If an indictment is issued against some suspects over the incident of death and if the judicial process that started with the admission of the indictment is continuing, it is always possible to identify the people who have responsibilities in the incident as a result of the inquiry in the related trial and to open a public case against them. Within this context, there is no obstacle to filing a public case against the people for whom a decision of non-prosecution was given in the event that their responsibility is identified."
Following this rejection, the family of Berkin Elvan made an application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The Constitutional Court previously rejected another application about the death of Elvan. That application was related to the failure to give a permission for investigation against the then Governor of İstanbul and Director of Security and was found "lacking grounds."
Why was the application made?
The Elvan family made the following claims regarding the trial and the responsibility of other police officers:
"Security forces, targeting him, fired a gas canister at Berkin Elvan's head, the documents that were requested from the security units were either not delivered or delivered late or delivered partially, the investigation was deliberately slowed down,
"Camera footage related to the time of incident was put in the investigation file one year after the incident, Berkin Elvan was hit by a targeted shot according to the analysis of the camera footage, and there were two ZET operators (people who use tear gas grenade launchers), one gas canister carrier, five police officers, including one chief giving orders and one who intervened in later, at the scene of the incident,
"Although the physical appearances of the ZET operators were known and it was known that the police chief at the scene of the incident was K.E.H., neither the ZET operators were identified nor the statement of the police chief was taken, the police officers who watched the camera footage stated that they did not know the ZET operators,
"Along with the police officer who pulled the trigger, the other ZET operator who pulled the trigger and the police chief who ordered that ZET weapons be used were responsible for the incident, besides, both two ZET operators fired their weapons and it could not be determined that which ZET operator fired the canister that caused the death,
"The investigation was neither effective nor concluded in a reasonable time; the obligations of not killing, protecting and effective investigation, attributed to the state by the right to life, and the right to a fair trial were violated."
What happened?On June 16, 2013, Berkin Elvan was hospitalized due to grave head injuries after the police intervention in the district of Okmeydanı in İstanbul. When he was admitted to the Okmeydanı Research Hospital, his heart had reportedly stopped already. Suffering from a brain hemorrhage, Elvan went through at least five surgeries. On January 5, 2014, Elvan turned 15 in his comatose. He died on March 11, 269 days after being shot. While the prosecutor investigating the incident was changed for six times, the investigation was completed on December 7, 2016. Prepared by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the indictment demanded that police officer F.D., who was referred to as the only defendant, be penalized on charge of "killing with eventual intent." The 11-page indictment sent to the İstanbul 17th Heavy Penal Court has been accepted. A verdict of non-prosecution has been given for 42 police officers, who previously made their depositions as part of the investigation into the death of Elvan. Speaking to bianet, Oya Aslan, one of the attorneys for the Elvan family, stated that a lawsuit was filed only against a single police officer who was on the scene of incident and added that since the lawsuit was filed for "killing with eventual intent", rather than for "wilful murder", it has reduced the foreseen prison sentence to 20 years. The case is still continuing. |
(AS/SD)
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