There is 'organized spoliation of evidence' in Deniz Poyraz murder case, says HDP

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) İzmir MPs Serpil Kemalbay Pekgözegü and Murat Çepni held a press conference at the Parliament yesterday (November 17) and talked about the trial over the deadly armed attack that claimed the life of Deniz Poyraz in the HDP İzmir office on June 17.

Recalling that the Deniz Poyraz murder case will begin on December 29, Kemalbay Pekgözegü and Çepni shared the flaws and unlawful points of the investigation with reporters and the public.

Çepni said, "First of all, let us say this: As it is very clearly understood thanks to the evidence unearthed afterwards, this massacre was an extremely organized one. I would like to say what I was to say in the end: If the judicial process regarding this massacre was handed over to the murderer himself, he would not be able to run it in such a way to protect himself this much."

Ignored evidence, questions awaiting answers

Çepni argued that the court case about the massacre has been based on the spoliation of all pieces of evidence. The MP then moved on to list the findings about the investigation process as follows:

"Even though the HDP building is in the city center and even though there are police officers at its door, at the police checkpoint almost 24/7, no police officers went up to the HDP Provincial Building for 30 minutes from the beginning of the massacre to its end.

"The building is an office block. While it should have been considered a crime scene as a whole and even though the murderer himself stated that he walked around the entire building and knocked on other doors, this building is not considered to be a crime scene. Right after the massacre happened, this building was opened for entries and exits.

The murderer was arrested within 18 hours without examining the incident in multiple lights, collecting the evidence or receiving the Historical Traffic Search (HTS) records and camera footage. As interesting as it may sound, almost no questions about the murderer or his contacts and relations were asked at the security directorate.

"The phone of the murderer was seized and his WhatsApp messages were accessed; but the people were still not caught or detained.

"Even though he had 100 lira on him according to the search minutes, the murderer was given 200 lira at the courthouse for some reason. Why was this money given to him? By whom? As pocket money? This is another question and the answer is unknown.

"According to the HTS records, the murderer directed the calls to be received by him to the phone of another person. It was revealed, but not a single investigation has been launched against this person.

"According to the HTS records, the murderer called the İzmir Security Directorate 27 times at different dates. When the lawyers asked for the voice records, the security directorate said that there was no such voice record and did not feel the need to investigate it. The İzmir Security Directorate did not take this into account in any way and said that it was very normal.

"The murderer himself said that he had done reconnaissance inside and outside the building before the murder and when the HTS records are examined, it is seen that he came to the town where the HDP building is located several times. He also says this is some way.

According to the HTS records, when the signals of the people whom the murderer said he had met are examined, it turns out that these people also frequented the town where the HDP has its building. In other words, the murderer was not alone in these acts of reconnaissance. There is not a single inquiry or investigation about this issue.

"It is also in the official records that the murderer had been living in luxury in the past months. He had led quite a luxurious life with luxurious hotels, saunas and all. But it is also known that he was not working in the meantime. But he is not asked where he found the money despite this.

"No questions were asked to the murderer about the International Defense Consulting Construction Industry and Trade Inc. (SADAT).

"After the evidence was obtained, the SADAT released a statement and said that it had nothing to do with the murderer. The İzmir Security Directorate found this statement enough

"As a matter of fact, the murderer had gone to Syria as a health worker. He had gone there as a health worker, received a gun training, shared all these as pictures and the SADAT's works about this are known, but the murderer is still not asked anything about it, either."

Taking the floor after Çepni, Kemalbay Pekgözegü also said that they, as the HDP, do not accept the ineffective investigation and judicial process and underlined that "a political murder was committed against the 3rd biggest part of Turkey and a woman was massacred in the 3rd biggest city of the country." Defining the murder of Poyraz as "a reflection of feminicides in Turkey", the MP reiterated that they will closely follow up the process. (KÖ/SD)