Lawyers of the Return to Life Operation filed a criminal complaint with the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) about the court board handling the Ümraniye trial. 267 army staff members are being prosecuted in the scope of the operation that was carried out on 19 to 22 December 2000 in Istanbul. The police violently ended the "death fasts" of hundreds of political prisoners who had protested against a transfer from large wardens to F-type cells with only 3 or 4 prisoners.
As reasons for the complaint the lawyers claim that certain defendants have not been brought to court within the past four years; the involved lawyers did not have the opportunity to interrogate the defendants at all; nothing was done about the operation plans called "Bora" ('Storm') and "Atmaca" ('Hawk') that emerged three years ago and the entire number of requests made by the lawyers were dismissed.
As the last straw, court board member Mehmet Ali Önen "fell asleep and snored" during the speech of the lawyers at the last hearing on 20 January.
What about the operation plans?
During the Return to Life operation that was carried out in 20 prisons simultaneously, 30 detainees and convicts and two soldiers died. At the Ümraniye Prison on the Asian side of Istanbul, one special sergeant and four convicts died.
In the course of the judicial procedures it turned out that the special sergeant was killed with a bullet from the military.
After the operation, a lawsuit was opened against 399 detainees and convicts who were incarcerated at the Ümraniye Prison at the time. The case is still pending.
In 2004, a case against 267 members of the military staff was opened related to the operation at the Ümraniye Prison.
The lawyers of the detainees and convicts as the injured party are involved as plaintiffs but the case has not made any progress within the past eight years, not even the operation plans have been disclosed.
At the Bayrampaşa Prison on the European side of the city, twelve people died in the course of the operation. An investigation was opened about Ali İhsan Demirel, prosecutor of the related trial, because he allegedly "protected those who are responsible from being brought to court".
While the "Tufan" ('Cyclone') Plan that was disclosed in the scope of the Bayrampaşa Prison trial created a big stir in the media, the "Bora" and "Atmaca" Plans that were presented to court three years ago were not reported in the news and did not make the Ürmaniye trial advance at all.
"Defendants' statements not taken in the past eight years"
Lawyer Güçlü Sevimli, steering board member of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD), submitted the complaint to the HSYK on 3 March. On top of the list of complaints he claimed that "the interrogation of the defendants has not been finished within the past eight years".
The military staff indicted on charges of "negligence of duty", "causing death" and "ill-treatment" have not answered the questions of the plaintiff lawyers once.
During the eight-year trial period and even when the investigation was still going on many of the soldiers gave their statements upon the referring orders in the cities they resided at.
They have not appeared at court in the past four years.
"Court has no will to reveal the truth"
Sevimli claimed in his petition, "The operation plans 'Bora' and 'Atmaca' were included in the case file. These documents contain written information on which commanders gave the order for the operation and how it was done. However, this crucial evidence of the trial has not been processed".
"The court has been rejecting all our requests regularly for the past eight years. Only dates for the next hearings were given out. We have seen that the court has no will to reveal the truth", Sevimli concluded.
The complaint also comprises the fact that court board member Önen fell asleep and snored during the speech of the plaintiff lawyers at the 20 January hearing. His nap was also mentioned in the report of trial observer lawyer Nurdan Düvenci from the Istanbul Bar Association. (AS)
