Evidence of deadly attack on Kurdish family not given to lawyer

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Abdurrahman Karabulut, the lawyer of Dedeoğulları family, whose seven members were massacred in an armed attack at their house in Konya, applied to the Konya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and requested the camera footage and WhatsApp messages added to the file as evidence.

As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW) Türkçe, the Konya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has rejected this request.

Rejecting the request for taking a copy of the camera footage captured at the family's house, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has written to the Justice Ministry and asked for its legal opinion as to whether the raw footage is among the pieces of evidence to be given to the plaintiffs.

The Prosecutor's Office has not fulfilled the request for WhatsApp messages on the grounds that they are being examined by an expert.

'A violation of right of defense'

Speaking about the issue, lawyer Karabulut has said that the investigation has been 80 percent completed and the prosecutor will have issued the indictment by the end of September. "The prosecutor does not share important evidence with us. These two pieces of evidence are an example of this," Karabulut has indicated, protesting the prosecutor's decision.

Underlining that the right to defense is being violated, lawyer Abdurrahman Karabulut has briefly stated the following:

"Only one camera footage has been reported in the press. We requested that all recordings be submitted to us in a CD, including the footage of the other three cameras. We also requested this before.

"However, the prosecutor's office has written to the Ministry of Justice as to the camera footage as per the Article 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK). We have been told that depending on the reply, it will be clear whether we will be given the footage or not.

"This is something wrong. Whatever in the file is a document. There is no restriction on the file. It needs to be given to us for this reason.

"However, with such an excuse, we have been verbally rejected to take both the written correspondence and the camera footage. We made a written application today. If a negative response is given again, we will appeal against this decision at the penal judgeship of peace.

"It means the violation of the right of defense. It is a rights violation if a lawyer's effective access to documents and information is restricted without a confidentiality order. If we cannot get a positive response from the penal judgeship of peace, we will apply to the Constitutional Court."

'WhatsApp messages are important'

Lawyer Karabulut has emphasized that the WhatsApp group messages of the Altun and Keleş families, whose members have been arrested as part of the investigation, are important. He has briefly said:

"We have not yet seen the content of this written correspondence. The prosecutor's office has said that it will give it to us in the form of an expert report. We do not know how long it will take to prepare the expert report. Expert reports are not 100 percent binding for courts.

"Why is this correspondence important for us? In two ways: It will be clear who was behind and before this shooter, whether it was an organized attack and whether the persons who instigated and aided the attack were in that group. It will also be clear whether there was a racist motive."

What happened?

An armed assailant raided the house of Dedeoğulları family in Konya's Meram in the evening hours on July 30. He shot seven family members to death, set the house on fire and ran away.

Several police and paramedic teams were referred to the scene of the incident upon reports. The dead bodies of Yaşar Dedeoğulları, Barış Dedeoğulları, Serpil Dedeoğulları, Serap Dedeoğulları, İpek Dedeoğulları, Metin Dedeoğulları and Sibel Dedeoğulları were found at home which was first raided by the perpetrator, then set on fire before leaving.

As part of the investigation launched into the attack, 10 people from the Keleş and Altun families and murder suspect Mehmet Altun were arrested.

Living in the same neighbourhood for 24 years, the Dedeoğulları family was subjected to the racist attack of nearly 60 people on May 12. "We are [ultranationalist] idealists, we will not let you live here," a racist group threatened the family and severely wounded 7 family members, including four women. Of the 7 people arrested after the attack, 5 were released.

Lawyer Abdurrahman Karabulut filed a criminal complaint against the local authorities and provincial and district security directors who had not taken adequate measures to protect the family before the attack and the prosecutor and penal judge of peace who had not responded to the requests for protection on charge of "neglect of duty" (KÖ/SD)