Deadly attack on Şenyaşar family: Prosecutor changed for 9th time in 3.5 years

* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)

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Hacı Esvet Şenyaşar and his sons Adil and Celal Şenyaşar were murdered in Urfa's Suruç in southeast Turkey on June 14, 2018.

The investigation into the incident has been going on for 3 years, 5 months. With a "confidentiality" order on the file, it has turned out that the prosecutor of the file has been changed for the 9th time.

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), Ferit Şenyaşar, who survived the attack in 2018, went to the courthouse to submit a request for rectifying the file. He learned that the prosecutor has been changed.

The 7th prosecutor investigating the incident was changed after he said that he had identified 23 people over what was done to the family at the hospital. Assigned to the investigation three months ago, prosecutor Mehmet Apaydın spent 45 days of this time on leave.

CLICK - 'Prosecutor relocated after saying, "Heads will roll"'

'They change the prosecutor everyday'

Emine Şenyaşar and her son Ferit Şenyaşar have been seeking justice by holding a "justice watch" in front of the Urfa Courthouse.

The mother has lashed out at the change of prosecutor: "We are dying of injustice here. But there is a constant change of prosecutors. The prosecutor is changed on a daily basis. Why is the file not opened?"

'Confidentiality' order on the file

There is a "confidentiality" order on the investigation which has been ongoing for nearly 3.5 years. The second appeal of the Şenyaşar family against the "confidentiality" order on the investigation into the second attack in the Suruç Public Hospital was rejected on April 21, 2021.

Having rejected the appeal, the Urfa 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace said in justification: "As it is in compliance with the content of the file and evidence, the injunction is legitimate; that being the case, there is nothing contrary to the procedure or to the law in this order."

While the family applied to the Constitutional Court, the top court has not yet handed down its ruling. One of the demands raised by the family with their "justice watch" is the lifting of this "confidentiality" order.

During the election campaign of ruling AKP Urfa MP İbrahim Halil Yıldız in Suruç, Urfa on June 14, 2018, an attack turned into an armed conflict, which claimed the lives of Yıldız's brother Mehmet Şah Yıldız, shop owner Hacı Esvet Şenyaşar and his sons Adil and Celal Şenyaşar.

Having lost his father and two brothers and been wounded himself in the incident, Fadıl Şenyaşar was discharged from hospital and detained on June 17, 2018. He was then arrested and sent to prison.

In the ensuing trial, the investigation into what happened in the family's shop and in the Suruç Public Hospital has been carried out as two separate investigations. In the former, Fadıl Şenyaşar was sentenced to 37 years, 9 months and Enver Yıldız to 18 years in prison.

'Insult' case to be held today

The first hearing of the "insult" case filed by AKP MP İbrahim Halil Yıldız against Emine Şenyaşar was adjourned till today (November 15).

The "justice watch" kept by Emine Şenyaşar and her son Ferit Şenyaşar, who survived the attack, has been ongoing in front of the Urfa Courthouse in southeast Turkey for 252 days since March 9. (KÖ/SD)