‘Judge calling Gezi “traitorous insurrection” should withdraw from Berkin Elvan case’

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The attorneys of Elvan family submitted a petition to the İstanbul 17th Heavy Penal Court, hearing the case of Berkin Elvan, yesterday (January 25) and requested that Mehmet Galip Perk, who was appointed as the Presiding Judge of the trial by a Decree of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) a few weeks ago, withdraw from the case.

As the reason for their request, the attorneys have referred to the partial remarks that he uttered in his ruling in the Gezi trial while he was the Presiding Judge of the İstanbul 30th Heavy Penal Court.

Shot in his head with a tear gas canister fired by a police officer in İstanbul, Elvan lost his life on March 11, 2014, 269 days after being shot.

As part of the trial over Elvan's killing, attorneys Fikret İlkiz, Can Atalay, Çiğdem Akbulut, Yalçın Deniz Özen and Akçay Taşçı have submitted a petition and said, "We have doubts about the judge's opinions concerning unlawful police violence and we do not have faith in his reliability."

The court board hearing the Berkin Elvan case was changed around two months ago. At the 18th hearing of the case heard on December 9, 2020, the prosecutor's opinion as to the accusations was not pronounced as both the court board and prosecutor had changed.

The next hearing is scheduled for January 29.

Mehmet Galip Perk's opinions about Gezi

In the petition submitted to the court, the following remarks of Perk in the detailed ruling of Gezi trial have been defined as undermining his impartiality:

'Traitorous insurrection'

"... as there has been no change in the fact that there is strong criminal suspicion as to the aim of laying the groundwork for the traitorous Gezi insurrection..."

'Naive awareness of the people was used'

In the detailed ruling of Gezi trial, it was indicated that the acquitted defendants were still under strong criminal suspicion:

"... with the onset of the acts mentioned as overturned, burned cars and damaged workplaces, public buildings and shown in the big screen by our court at the hearing ... there has been no change in the fact that there is strong criminal suspicion as to the statements targeting to achieve the ultimate aim by using the naive and pure environmental awareness of the people..."

'Directing perceptions with illegal aims'

The detailed ruling also argued that the defendants guided the society "in line with their illegal aims" during Gezi:

"... as there is also strong criminal suspicion concerning these defendants with the aforementioned evidence that they caused the death of our five citizens, including one security personnel, and the injury of hundreds of citizens during the grave Gezi insurrection,

"... these fugitive defendants, by analyzing the social structure with this course of action, could guide the society with the perception that they created in line with their illegal aims..."

'Aiming to force the government to resign...'

Judge Perk also defined the request for government's resignation as an illegal action, as can be seen from the following excerpt:

"... except for the wiretapped conversations not taken as a basis for the judgement, there has been serious evidence suggesting strong criminal suspicion as to the acts with the aim of putting the government in a difficult position and forcing it to resign..."

'Portraying the state authority as weak'

The 399th page of the detailed ruling of Gezi trial also contained his opinions as to Gezi resistance. Indicating that there were also "protestors reacting against the Taksim pedestrianization project and the administrative and legal proceedings as to its implementation", Perk briefly added:

"... it is a material fact that by organizing marginal groups and illegal left organizations in a pre-planned manner and ensuring their disguise among the protesting mass of people on the streets and squares by acting in a planned manner, the marginal groups and illegal left organizations in disguise acted with the aim of causing a chaos in the country, portraying the state authority as weak and disturbing public order."

'Vandalism under the pretext of uprooting of trees'

Referring to the "fugitive" defendants within this context, Judge Perk moved on to say that "they laid the groundwork for Gezi protests and guided the society in line with their illegal aims, with the protests taking on an actual dimension under the pretext of uprooting of trees..."

Against this backdrop, the petition of the Elvan family's attorneys have referred to Article 30 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK) and underlined that the judge shall withdraw from the Belkin Elvan case.

CMK Article 30/2 says: "If the judge refrains from the office by submitting grounds casting doubt on his impartiality, the authority shall decide if the refraining is acceptable or not. If the refraining has been approved, another judge or court shall be appointed to try the case."

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(AS/SD)