‘Why is the Ministry of Justice silent on the Musa Anter case?’

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Ankara MP Filiz Kerestecioğlu has raised concerns about the failure to respond to the requests of the court in the trial over the assassination of journalist Musa Anter in 1992.

Addressing a Parliamentary question to Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül, HDP MP Kerestecioğlu has questioned the reason behind the failure to take the defense statement of Abdülkadir Aygan, who is a key defendant in the Musa Anter case, lives in Sweden, was a former Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) informant and a member of the Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism (JİTEM) Organization.

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Court requests, the Ministry doesn't respond

Recalling that after the Musa Anter case was merged with the file of the case publicly known as the JİTEM Case, the trial continues at the Ankara 6th Heavy Penal Court, Kerestecioğlu has briefly summarized the judicial process and the silence of the Ministry of Justice.

Referring to the hearing of the trial held on September 30, 2015, HDP's Kerestecioğlu has noted that while the court board had written to the General Directorate of International Law and Foreign Relations of the Justice Ministry and demanded that the defense statement of Abdulkadir Aygan (Aziz Turan), who was in Sweden, be taken via the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS), it was indicated that Aygan refused to give a statement.

"In response to this, the court board addressed the Ministry of Justice and requested that the court board, together with the public prosecutor, go to Sweden in person and take his statement," Kerestecioğlu has explained, adding that this request was also not accepted by the Ministry.

Then, the Ministry informed the court board that if the questions were prepared in written form and sent by letters rogatory without a request for appearing before the judge, it would be appropriate.

Sharing details about what happened next, Kerestecioğlu has said that even though the court gave an interim ruling on July 11, 2018 and ruled that the statement of Abdulkadir Aygan be taken in written form, the Ministry has not yet given any answer to the court about the issue.

She has also raised concerns about the Justice Ministry's failure to give an answer since 2016 to the requests for letters rogatory to obtain information and documents about the asylum request and killing of defendant Cemil Işık, who sought asylum in Germany and died there.

6 questions to the Minister

HDP Ankara MP Kerestecioğlu has asked six questions to Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül within this context:

1- What is the reason for the failure to take the defense of Abdulkadir Aygan, a defendant of key importance who was a part of the JİTEM organization, which caused human rights violations by using state power, and who declared it to the public that he had information about several political murders, primarily about the killing of Musa Anter, for six years?

2- What action has been taken by your Ministry so far so that the defense of Aygan, who lives in Sweden, can be taken and documented? How is the legislation stemming from the international law used?

3- Why was the court board's request for going abroad and taking the statemenet of defense there rejected?

4- What is the reason for your Ministry's failure to give an answer to the related court decision and the request for letters rogatory even though the Ministry itself rejected the requests for the court board's going abroad and requested taking the statement in written form?

5- What is the reason for the failure to give a due answer to the court board's requests for letters rogatory about Cemil Işık?

6- What is the reason behind the Justice Ministry's failure to cooperate in the trial which aims to penalize the crimes committed in the 1990s and disclose the deep structures within the state? (KÖ/SD)