Court denies retrial to Kurdish prisoner whose age was raised to try him as an adult

A court in Van has rejected a request for a retrial by Emrah Bayram, who was tried as an adult after authorities changed his age following his detention in 2009, when he was a minor, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported. Bayram is currently serving a life sentence in Van.

The Van 1st Heavy Penal Court dismissed the application, concluding that the conditions for reopening the case under Article 311 of the Criminal Procedure Code had not been met.

In its decision, the court relied on earlier reports issued by Bitlis State Hospital and the 2nd Specialized Board of the Council of Forensic Medicine.

Bayram's lawyers will appeal the ruling.

What happened?

Bayram was detained in Sep 2009, after clashes between Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants and security forces in the rural part of the Bitlis province. Aged 15 at the time, he was accused of being a member of the (PKK).

At the request of police, Bayram was referred to Bitlis State Hospital, which issued a medical report stating that he was 22 years old after carrying out examinations. His lawyers maintaining that he was still a child.

After the defense challenged the hospital report, the case was referred to the Council of Forensic Medicine in İstanbul.

Although the council said it was technically difficult to make a definitive age determination based solely on the hospital report, the Van 3rd Heavy Penal Court changed Bayram's birth year from 1994 to 1987.

After Bayram's age was changed officially, he was tried before a hevay penal court as an adult, rather than a juvenile court. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for "disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state." The Court of Cassation upheld the conviction in Apr 2013.

Bayram's lawyers later sought to have his civil registry corrected and requested a retrial, citing the dismissal of the judicial officials and a new bone age assessment prepared by Patnos State Hospital.

They separately filed an individual application with the Constitutional Court, alleging a violation of his right to a fair trial. (EMK/VK)