Tahir Elçi murder case | Defendants not arrested, again

* Photo: Aziz Aslan - Diyarbakır / AA - File

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The trial over the killing of Diyarbakır Bar Chair Tahir Elçi continued at the Diyarbakır 10th High Criminal Court today (January 12).

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Today's hearing was attended by the Elçi family and their lawyers, the chairs of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) and bar associations, lawyers and representatives of civil society organizations.

Police officers on trial and their lawyers attended the hearing via video conference by using the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS).

TBB made a request for involvement

As reported by "Tahir Elçi Davası" (Tahir Elçi Case) social media account, Erinç Sağkan, the Chair of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB), made a request to be involved in the trial on behalf of the TBB. Bursa Bar Association Chair Metin Öztosun also requested involvement.

Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Nahit Eren made a criminal complaint "to file an investigation against prosecutor Kenan Karaca, who had misled the witnesses deliberately and with torture and influenced the fair trial in the deficiently and ineffectively conducted Tahir Elçi case."

Why is the camera footage missing?

Lawyer Eren also requested that Ahmet Davutoğlu, the then Prime Minister of Turkey who later defined the Tahir Elçi murder as a "political assassination", be heard as a witness before the court.

The lawyers of the Elçi family stated that the writs sent as per the interim rulings dated July 14, 2021 contained mistakes and deficiencies and requested that writs be written again so that the reasons why the camera footage is missing could be put forward and clarified.

Letter from 'witness': I didn't witness the incident

Deniz Ateş, who had allegedly witnessed the Tahir Elçi murder, sent a letter and said that the prosecutor visited her/him when s/he was in custody and promised her/him that s/he would be released if s/he put the blame for the murder on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

As reported by Ömer Çelik from Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the letter of Ateş, who is held in the Bolut Type F Prison, was presented to the court board by Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Nahit Eren.

Recounting how s/he, with a group of 4-5 people, was taken out of a conflict region in Diyarbakır's Sur in 2015 and "how they were tortured by police and soldiers in a way against human dignity", Ateş claimed that s/he was forced to serve as an agent and informer by the prosecutor.

Referring to "the torture, psychological pressure, insults and beating of the police and the pledge of the prosecutor about release," Ateş wrote that s/he accepted acting in the way s/he was told to.

"As I was under pressure during the 2-3 hour interrogation, I accepted what was said and they put a paper in front of me. As I do not know how to read and write, they told me to put my thumbprint on the paper and I did so," wrote Deniz Ateş in the letter, briefly adding:

"My capacity as a witness to the incidents cannot be the case. As what is indicated as my witness statement is what was taken under pressure, I cannot logically bear witness to the incident that I did not see."

Lawyers requested defendants' arrest

The lawyers of the family also demanded the reiteration of the writ on the grounds that the 'Examination Report' prepared by the Chief Civil Inspector's Office of the Interior Ministry had not been added to the case file despite the interim ruling and requested that the defendants be arrested on the grounds of the risk that they might spoil the evidence.

The family's lawyers stated that no examination was carried out though a tip-off letter of a police officer on January 6, 2016 indicated that "the members of the organization who carried out the act had links with the intelligence and some security authorities manipulated the situation."

Reiterating their requests as to who had malice and negligence in the Tahir Elçi murder, the lawyers also demanded that the personnel whose registration numbers indicated in the minutes and the police officers mentioned in the tip-off letter be heard as part of the trial.

The court board gave the defendants and their lawyers the floor to speak; they reiterated their previous requests and statements.

'Every information matters, must be investigated'

The prosecutor's office demanded that the requests for arrest be rejected and the interim rulings given at the previous hearing be executed.

The lawyers of the Elçi family said that the attitude of the prosecutor who implied that the statements of the ones acting as witnesses should not be relied on was wrong, adding that every piece of information is important and it shall be investigated, as required by the law.

The hearing was recessed until 2.30 pm before the interim ruling was pronounced by the court board.

Handing down its interim ruling, the court board has accepted the TBB's request for involvement and rejected the request for arresting the defendants. The next hearing will be held on June 15, 2022.

About the indictment

The 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 the 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 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.

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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 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/SD)