Request for 'effective investigation' from Greece
The Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) and the Legal Centre Lesvos from Greece held a joint press conference today in Izmir, where they called for justice for Barış Büyüksu, who lost his life in the Aegean.
The statement was attended by Nergiz Tuba Aslan from ÇHD, Lawyer Vicky Aggelidou from the Legal Centre Lesvos, and Barış Büyüksu's sister Dilan Bıyık.
Torture confirmed by Forensic Medicine report
Barış Büyüksu was found unconscious on a boat with 15 Palestinian migrants off the coast of Bodrum on October 22, 2022, by the Turkish Coast Guard. He lost his life while waiting for an ambulance for medical intervention.
As part of the investigation conducted by the Bodrum Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, statements were taken from the Palestinian migrants who were with Büyüksu as witnesses. The witnesses explained that the incident was carried out by Greek state forces and was part of the frequently practiced "pushback" practice.
According to the witness statements, Büyüksu was subjected to severe beatings and torture with electricity on the island of Kos. The Forensic Medicine Report prepared as part of the investigation also confirmed the witness statements. In the report prepared at the 1st Forensic Specialization Board of the Forensic Medicine Institution, Barış Büyüksu's cause of death was stated as "multiple rib fractures and widespread soft tissue bleeding due to general bodily trauma."
"The file in Greece cannot be accessed"
In February 2023, the family applied to the Contemporary Jurists Association for legal support. ÇHD, a member of the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH), and the Legal Centre Lesvos took on the family's legal representation.
In today's statement, they called for justice for all refugees:
"As part of this call for justice, we ask: Where is the Barış Büyüksu file? Barış lost his life due to border policies. However, his family cannot access justice due to intergovernmental bureaucracy...
"The criminal investigation being carried out at the Bodrum Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is quite comprehensive and detailed. After this investigation file was translated into Greek by the prosecution, the entire file was sent to the Ministry of Justice's Directorate General for External Relations and the European Union for transmission to the competent judicial authorities in Greece, in order to facilitate judicial cooperation."
In the investigation opened by the Bodrum Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the perpetrators are charged with "intentional killing with monstrous feeling or torture" (Turkish Criminal Law-TCK Article 82/1.b) and "torture aggravated by its consequences" (TCK Article 95/4). However, the Legal Centre Lesvos, cannot access the file in Greece, despite all their systematic efforts.
Greek Foreign Affairs Units stated that procedurally, the documents should first reach Turkey's Ministry of Justice (specifically the Directorate General for External Relations and the European Union) from the Turkish Ministry of Justice, and from there to Greece's Ministry of Justice through Greece's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, despite all our efforts, it cannot be determined whether the file has reached Greece's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Demands
ÇHD and Legal Centre Lesvos requested the following from the public, human rights defenders, and authorities:
· We urge human rights defenders in Greece and Turkey to join our call for justice for Barış. Barış is not the first and will not be the last migrant who lost their life due to illegal pushbacks. We call on human rights defenders to stand with us in our fight for justice for Barış and against pushbacks.
· We call on parliamentarians and ministries to take action to locate the file that has gone missing between the bureaucracies of the two countries.
· We urge Greek authorities to initiate an urgent and effective judicial process regarding the death of Barış Büyüksu as soon as possible.
(AS/PE)