Extrajudicial killings | Statute of limitations risk in Dargeçit JİTEM case

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No progress was made in the 25th hearing of the Dargeçit JİTEM case, which concerns the extrajudicial killing of eight people, including five children in the Dargeçit district of the predominantly Kurdish-populated southeastern province of Mardin.

Even though the families of the forcibly disappeared people pointed out the risk of the case being dropped due to the statute of limitations, the court set the date of the next hearing to be July 4.

☞ The Gendarmerie Intelligence Counterterrorism (JİTEM) is accused of perpetrating many extrajudicial killings in the 1990s. While several cases were opened about the killings in early 2010s against former gendarmerie and security officials, most of those cases have been completed with courts finding "no such organization."

Then-prosecutor Ahmet Kul, who was ordered to be heard as a witness five years ago, missed today's hearing, too. At the hearing on January 10, the court ruled that the enforcement of the decision about Kul should be awaited "for a reasonable time."

Kul has an arrest warrant against him because of "being a member of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ)."

One of the defendants, Mardin Gendarmerie Commando Battalion Commander Hurşit İmren, and his attorneys attended today's hearing via videoconference.

"There are no defendants"

Kasım Aslan, who lost his father, Mehmet Emin Aslan, took the floor at the hearing and said, "Is this not the time for justice for us?"

Mehmet Coşkun, who lost his younger brother, Abdurrahman Coşkun, said, "As you know, we lost our people 27 years ago and we are aggrieved. We come to the court, but there are no defendants."

He recalled that a former anti-terror officer had admitted that the people were executed and their bodies were thrown into a limepit, yet no defendants were arrested.

Hizni Doğan, who lost his sister Seyhan Doğan, said, "We don't know what to say. In the past, the courts were closed to us. Now, they are open but we have been coming to the court for years ... We demand the perpetrators be tried on remand."

"There is sufficient evidence"

The attorney of the aggrieved families, Erdal Kuzu, said there is sufficient evidence in the case file.

"The mother of Davut Altunkaynak has been telling the prosecutor what happened since 1995. She says 'I saw they were killed.' The MİT [National Intelligence Organization] report admits forced disappearance. We got 15 people accepted by the MİT to testify. The then-sub-governor admitted.

"The friend of Specialist Sergeant Bilal Batırır explained the 50-51 coordinates. She says the place where the bones were found was the same place where Mehmet Tire's [then-gendarmerie commander of Dargeçit] car went."

Defendants Hurşit İmren, Mahmut Yılmaz, Faruk Çatak and Haydar Topçam demanded their acquittal, stating that they agree with the prosecutor's opinion as to the accusations.

The court rejected the plaintiff's request for the defnedants' arrest and adjourned the case until February 4. The court also ruled that the outcome of the prosecution file about Ahmet Kul, the witness, should be learned from the Court of Cassation.

(AS/VK)