Soldiers Acquitted in 'Operation Return to Life' Ümraniye Prison Case

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The verdict was announced yesterday (December 3) in the lawsuit filed against 267 soldiers regarding the Operation Return to Life on December 19, 2000, at Ümraniye Prison in İstanbul.

İstanbul Anadolu 8th Heavy Penal Court's changed board, which took over the file yesterday (December 3), announced the decision after rejecting all the requests of the lawyers involved.

The court decided to drop the case against five defendants who died. The lawsuit was filed 15 years ago.

It was decided to drop the case against some of the 262 defendants for "intentional injury" and "torture" due to the statute of limitations.

Defendants were also acquitted of the charge of "deliberate killing in such a way that makes the perpetrator unidentifiable" on the ground of the lack of evidence that is "sufficient, not doubtful in any way, conclusive and convincing."

Who killed the five people?

In another case regarding the deaths in the prison, the defendants, who were inmates at the time, were also acquitted in 2016.

İstanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court acquitted 399 defendants because "it was proven that they did not commit the offense of murder."

The reasoned decision stated that Gendarmerie Specialist Sergeant Nurettin Kurt was certainly killed by the soldiers who carried out the operation.

The perpetrators of the killings remained unidentified with yesterday's acquittals.

Statements were not taken from plaintiffs

In yesterday's hearing, Güçlü Sevimli, the attorney of intervener Ümit İlter, said that the court did not accept their request for extra time regarding the opinion of the Prosecutor's Office as to the accusations and stressed that the court board changed before the hearing.

"Some of the plaintiffs are still remanded in custody. We request their statements be taken at least via SEGBİS [Audio and Video Information System] connection.

"For the examination of the statements we prepared by your board and because it is not possible for defense attorneys to give a statement, a ruling should not be given in this hearing."

The prosecutor requested the rejection of Sevimli's request. The court rejected the request and announced its verdict.

Prosecutor: Soldiers acted in self-defense

The Prosecutor's Office, stating its opinion as to the accusations in the hearing on October 18, said that the reason for the operation was "the prison administration having lost the authority on the arrested and convicted."

It also stated that the soldiers "acted in self-defense" and requested their acquittal of the charge of "intentional killing."

What happened?

During the week of December 19-26, 2000, around 10 thousand soldiers occupied 48 prisons to end two months of hunger strikes and "death fasts" by hundreds of political prisoners. The hunger strikers were protesting the state's plan to transfer its prisoners from large wards to the US-style "F-type" cells holding one to three inmates

Operation "Return to Life" -- which left at least 31 prisoners and two soldiers dead -- lasted a few hours in most prisons and up to three days at one prison. Eight prisoners were reportedly "disappeared", and at least 426 prisoners were wounded.

The first lawsuit regarding the "Return to Life Operation" conducted in Bayrampaşa Prison was filed in 2010, ten years after the incident.

The indictment against 37 private soldiers and two non-commissioned officers was filed by Eyüp Public Prosecutor's Office and the ensuing court case has been continuing at the Bakırköy 13th Heavy Penal Court.

After the official document entitled "The Deluge (Tufan) Operation Order", according to which the operation was conducted in Bayrampaşa Prison, was submitted to the court, the second court case was filed against 157 members of the gendarmerie for "homicide" and "homicidal attempt" in March 2015. (AS/VK)