There is 'no serious trial' of police officer who broke lawyer's backbone

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The third hearing of the case of a police officer breaking a lawyer's backbone was held yesterday (July 13).

During a statement for the press by lawyers in front of İstanbul Courthouse in 2016, police officer Murat A. broke attorney Zeycan Balcı's backbone.

Because İstanbul 22nd Penal Court of First Instance has been quarantined due to Covid-19, the hearing was held at the 3rd Penal Court of First Instance, which adjourned the case to October 9.

The defendant police officer did not attend the hearing while the Security Directorate assigned another police officer to watch the hearing. Many lawyers were also present in the courtroom.

"There is no progress"

İbrahim Ergün, the attorney of Balcı, said that the case was very important but there was no progress.

Ergün said that the hearings have been postponed for various reasons: "After the first hearing, the presiding judge was appointed [to elsewhere]. Another hearing was held on paper on the ground of the pandemic. Today, it was stated that the 22nd Penal Court of First Instance was quarantined."

"Because the 3rd Penal Court of First Instance judge doesn't know about the case and he is not authorized, a proper hearing was not held. There were witness attorneys that we wanted to testify. Forensic medicine reports were going to be evaluated.

"There is a serious attack against a lawyer but there is no serious trial.

"This case is very important; it reveals the extent of violence that a police officer inflicted on a lawyer. But because there is no serious trial, the defendant police officer doesn't come to the hearings.

"However, had there been a trial, we would request an arrest and maybe the court would decide to arrest him."

A police officer in the courtroom

"When the hearing began, we noticed that a stranger was sitting in the courtroom. The presiding judge asked who he was and he said he was assigned by the security directorate.

"We wanted him to be identified but he quickly got out. When we looked outside, we saw that there was another police officer. This has become normal in courtrooms, but it should not be normalized.

"There are four witness police officers in the case. Why does the security directorate assign a police officer to watch the hearing? What is it trying to learn?

"Besides, the audience is not allowed in the courtroom because of the pandemic but the police officer can comfortably follow the hearing. We could go nowhere in an incident that happened four years ago, this is an indication of how the judiciary is functioning."

What happened?

On March 31, 2016, the Contemporary Lawyers' Association (ÇHD) members attempted to make a statement for the press in front of İstanbul Courthouse following a hearing of 22 lawyers for "terrorism-related" offenses.

The police did not allow the lawyers to make a statement and Zeycan Balcı's backbone was broken during the police intervention.

A lawsuit was filed against the police officers for "injury, intentional injury and exceeding limits in using force."

The first hearing of the case was held on December 9, 2019. (RT/VK)