Deniz Poyraz case | 'We have serious suspicions about spoliation of evidence'

* From the first hearing on December 29, 2021

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The trial over the killing of Deniz Poyraz by armed assailant Onur Gencer at the İzmir Provincial Organization Office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on June 17, 2021 continued with its second hearing at the İzmir 6th High Criminal Court today (January 24). The court board has ruled that the next hearing shall be held on April 29, 2022.

While the hearing was scheduled for 9 am, it began at 12.30 pm. Arrested defendant Onur Gencer was present in the courtroom.

The Presiding Judge, ahead of the hearing's start, reminded the audience of the tension at the first hearing on December 29, 2021 and said:

"A brawl occurred at the previous hearing and we had to end the hearing. This trial is a trial that the public of Turkey and the world have their eyes on. We need to maintain order and discipline at the hearing. If a brawl and tension occur at this hearing as was the case at the previous hearing, we will have to carry on with it in the courtroom in Şakran."

Following the speech of the Presiding Judge, an identity check was conducted on the parties and witnesses.

'It is a result of the HDP being targeted'

After the identity check, the requests for intervening in the trial were received. Regarding the HDP's request for intervention, HDP Co-Chair Sancar said, "We request intervention in this trial. This sorrow is primarily our sorrow; this rage is primarily our rage. This case is our case."

Noting that "the defendant did not target a specific person", Sancar added, "The prosecutor of the investigation limits our requests for intervening with inviolability of the workplace and damage to property. In fact, the subject matter of this case and our loss is much more than that. For this reason, we request that our request for intervention be taken into consideration."

Sancar said, "We lost our party member, our employee, our beloved one. For this reason, it is not a sound finding that our sole aggrievement is about damage to property or violating the inviolability of the workplace. The responsibility of your court is not only to us but to the entire humanity. This attack is a result of the HDP being targeted by political power holders."

Requests for intervening in the case

After Sancar's statement, the other requests for intervening in the case were received. Human Rights Agenda Association Chair - lawyer Özlem Yılmaz, Progressive Lawyers' Association (ÇHD) lawyer Erdoğan Akdoğdu, SYKP Co-Chair Canan Yüce, Rosa Women Association's lawyer Berfin Polat, Labor Party (EMEP) İzmir Chair Emine Uyar, Young LGBTI+ Association's lawyer Mahmut Şeren, Green Left Party's İbrahim Akın, Progressive Workers' Party's lawyer Şiar Rişvanoğlu, Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) lawyer Doğukan Taşdan, Lawyers for Freedom Association's Aryen Turan, Lawyers for Democracy's Zöhre Dalkıran, İzmir Bar Association Chair Özkan Yücel, Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Nahit Eren, Mardin Bar Association Chair İsmail Elik, Muş Bar Association Chair Kadir Karaçelik, Şırnak Bar Association's Dilan Nas, Bursa Bar Association's Cahit Kazak, İstanbul Bar Association's Burcu Arslan and Trabzon Bar Association's Nihan Göktürk also expressed the requests of their organizations for intervening in the case.

Requests for intervening in the case rejected

After hearing the requests for intervening in the case, the prosecutor expressed an opinion as to the requests and demanded that the requests of the Poyraz family, HDP officials and their lawyers be accepted while those of the others be rejected as they were not directly aggrieved.

The court board examined the requests and accepted the requests for intervention raised by the mother, father and siblings of Deniz Poyraz, HDP Co-Chair Mithat Sancar and HDP provincial co-chairs and rejected the requests of other associations and organizations.

The hearing has been recessed until 4 pm local time in Turkey.

'I don't regret the bloody raid'

After an hour of recess, assailant Onur Gencer made his defense. Gencer said that he carried out the attack "to cool [his heart]".

Further in his statement, Onur Gencer said, "The bloody raid that I carried out dates very back in the past. The trauma that I experienced [by seeing that] my mother was targeted by the HDP [people] in the year 1998 ended on June 17 [when he killed Deniz Poyraz]."

He said, "I do not regret the bloody raid that I carried out due to several traumas that I experienced with the PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party]. I want Deniz Poyraz and her family to be inquired. I was fretting about on June 16; I could not sleep due to excitement. If I had been there five minutes earlier, I would have launched an attack with lots of corpses."

A brawl ensued at the hearing following these remarks.

Referring to the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and jailed former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, arrested defendant Onur Gencer further said, "PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and Selahattin Demirtaş are my special field of interest. The rest is all the same for me. Deniz Poyraz or Murat Çepni... I wish he had been buried in the mix, too."

Lawyers reacted: He is speaking provocatively

Tension ensued in the courtroom following Onur Gencer's statements. Lawyers said that Gencer did not make defense but made statements that provoked and contained elements of crime. They requested that the Presiding Judge intervene in the defendant's statement.

Gencer resumed his defense afterwards. The Presiding Judge reacted against it after Gencer uttered provoking remarks again.

Fehime Poyraz: I have nightmares at night

Afterwards, father Abdülillah Poyraz made his statement in Kurdish and said that "he knew the murderer was not on his own". The father "wanted the other people behind the attack be put on trial as well."

Mother Fehime Poyraz also said, "I am a mother; may no mother experience such grief. We want peace. Don't let mothers cry, don't let fathers hurt in their hearts. I live with medications; I have nightmares at night. [...] I want this murderer who killed a defenseless woman and tortured her dead body to be penalized. My daughter Deniz was a person who would not hurt a fly. I rest my case to my people. Everyone here is Deniz for me."

'He came there for a mass murder'

With his request for intervening in the case accepted, HDP İzmir Provincial Co-Chair Abdülkadir Baydur said:

"On that day, I was coincidentally not in the provincial building at that hour. There would be at least five of us at that hour of the day. When I came to the building on the day of the incident, two armed civilians [plainclothes police officers] were standing in front of the building. I asked, 'What is going on?' They said, 'There is an armed attack on the second floor.'

"I said, 'Why don't you intervene? I will go in, we have our friends inside.' They did not let me in, they moved me away. Sounds of glass and gunshots were coming from inside but no intervention was made. He came there for a mass murder. It should be considered a crime against humanity. I want him to be penalized in the severest way possible."

Witness taxi driver: He was a hyperactive friend

The witnesses started making their statements afterwards. The taxi driver who took Onur Gencer to the scene of the incident said:

"Onur Gencer is the customer of our taxi stand. He had been getting a taxi from our stand for the past three months.

"I did not see anything on that day, I did not notice anything. I took Onur Gencer from the İzmir School of Trade on June 17. He asked, 'There is the İkiçeşmelik English course. Do you know it?'

"I took him at 10.30 am and dropped him off at 10.50. We passed through [a traffic police] checkpoint on Gaziemir avenue. There was no problem with his behavior, he was a bit of an hyperactive friend."

In response to the Presiding Judge's question, "How do you know that he was hyperactive", the driver said, "I had taken him to other places before. He made [me] drive fast and turn up the music. I heard about the incident after I was called by the security [directorate]."

'Let us withdraw if we continue like this'

After the witness statement of the taxi driver, four witnesses from an educational institution in the building were heard.

Following the witness statement, lawyer Türkan Arslan requested that the father, sister and other relatives of the defendant be not heard before their questions to the assailant Gencer today. The court board ruled that the relatives of the defendant should be heard as witnesses.

In response, Arslan said, "You are preventing the material fact being disclosed. If we continue like this, let us withdraw. You conclude the case in the light of the penalty requested by the indictment."

The lawyer requested that a writ be written to the Directorate General of Türk Telekom communications company and that the Directorate General of the company be asked whether the obligation to receive a psychotechnical document was met or not and whether a deal was made with a company in the province of İzmir for this.

Lawyer Arslan also demanded that a writ should be written to the security directorate and that the directorate be asked for the raw camera footage of the crime scene and asked why cut footage was taken, how many teams there were at the scene of the incident and which teams, other than counter-terrorism, were present. She said, "We have serious suspicions about spoliation of evidence and deficient collection of evidence."

The court board has accepted the requests of lawyer Türkan Arslan and ruled that the next hearing shall be held April 29, 2022.

CLICK - Assailant's 'psychological disorders' cited in indictment

The hearing was followed by HDP Co-Chair Mithat Sancar, HDP MPs Filiz Kerestecioğlu, Serpil Kemalbay, Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit, Ayşe Acar Başaran, main opposition CHP MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu, Human Rights Association (İHD) Honorary Chair Akın Birdal, Peace Foundation Chair Hakan Tahmaz, Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Nahit Eren, İzmir Bar Association Chair Özkan Yücel, Muş Bar Association Chair Kadir Karaçelik, Mardin Bar Association Chair İsmail Elin, representatives from the İstanbul, Şırnak, Bursa, Yalova and Bingöl Bar Associations and the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) and the family of Deniz Poyraz.

(RT/SD)