Court of Cassation upholds acquittal of eight accused of 21 extrajudicial killings in Diyarbakır

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The 1st Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, Turkey's highest appeals court, has upheld the acquittals of eight defendants in the Cizre JİTEM case.

The case concerned the illegal detention and killing of 21 people in Cizre, Diyarbakır, between 1993 and 1995. The case was opened in 2009.

NOTE: JİTEM, or the Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counterterrorism, was an alleged unofficial organization within the Gendarmerie General Command. It has been accused of perpetrating hundreds of extrajudicial killings in the country's Kurdish regions during the conflict in the 1990s. The existence of the organization has never been officially acknowledged.

"Yapılan yargılamaya, toplanan ve karar yerinde açıklanan delillere, mahkemenin kovuşturma sonucunda oluşan inanç ve takdirine, gösterilen gerekçeye ve uygulamaya göre katılanlar vekillerinin yerinde görülmeyen temyiz sebeplerinin reddiyle hükümlerin isteme uygun olarak onanmasına karar verildi."

The Penal Chamber rejected the appeal of the attorneys of the intervening parties "in accordance with the trial, the evidence and the court's belief and discretion."

The ruling was given by three votes to two, with the two judges who gave dissenting votes stating that then Cizre Gendarmerie Commander Cemal Temizöz "founded an extrajudicial organization in the name of fighting terrorism."

The organization in question included former Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) members turned into confessors, as well as specialist sergeants, judge İbrahim İlhan stated.

"And [Temizöz] became the leader of the organization himself. He defined the defendants as 'militia forces' and they aimed to restrict the mobility of the terrorist organization by eliminating people whom they thought to be aiding the terrorist organization," the judge stated.

Temizöz had set up an "interrogation team" comprising six or seven people, who had used vehicles and weapons that were not registered in the inventory, the judge noted.

The members of the organization would wear plain clothes and use code names to ensure the organization acted in secrecy, he further said.

The judge explained in detail 14 murders that were committed at the time, stating that Temizöz and other defendants should have been punished for these murders.

The trial

The trial concerning the extrajudicial killings of 21 people in Cizre, Diyarbakır between 1993 and 1995 had been continuing since 2009.

Retired Colonel Cemil Temizöz, former Cizre Mayor Kamil Atağ, Kukel Atağ, Temer Atağ, Adem Yakin, Fırat Altın (Abdulhakim Güven), Hıdır Altuğ and Burhanettin Kıyak were charged with "establishing an organization to commit a crime, joining this organization, instigating murder and murder."

The case first started in Diyarbakır and was later transferred to Şırnak, after the "specially authorized courts" were abolished. The court in Şırnak ruled for the release of Temizöz because he had been remanded in custody for five years.

The case was then transferred to Eskişehir for "security" reasons. The Eskişehir 2nd Heavy Penal Court acquitted the eight defendants on November 5, 2015. Plaintiffs appealed the verdict. (TP/VK)