Statement from 75 bar associations: We will never give up the struggle for justice
In the final hearing held on June 12, the court acquitted police officers Sinan Tabur, Fuat Tan and Mesut Sevgi in the case concerning the killing of Tahir Elçi in front of the Four-Legged Minaret in Diyarbakır's Sur district on November 28, 2015.
Thus, another case where the defendants were soldiers and police officers was concluded without punishment. 75 bar associations reacted to the verdict.
VERDICT DAY IN THE TAHİR ELÇİ CASE
"The judiciary, which failed to carry out the necessary investigation, is also indirectly responsible for the murder"
In a joint statement titled “We will never give up the struggle for justice for Tahir Elçi”, the bar associations said:
"On November 28, 2015, Diyarbakır Bar Association President Lawyer Tahir Elçi was assassinated during a press statement he was making at the Four-Legged Minaret, one of Diyarbakır's historical symbols, to draw attention to the destruction caused by the conflicts, to protect cultural heritage, and to say no to weapons and war. Within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, three suspect police officers were included in the investigation, and the indictment prepared after four years was submitted to the court in March 2020. The Diyarbakır 10th High Criminal Court rejected all important requests from the party participating in the investigation to shed light on the murder during the 11 hearings held over four years and acquitted the police officers on trial at the verdict hearing held on June 12, 2024.
The principle of the rule of law makes it possible to provide the conditions of accountability, regardless of who the perpetrator(s) are, with legal guarantees, to meet the victims' demands for justice, and to prevent violations. The policy of impunity, which manifests itself in legal, judicial, administrative, and practical areas within the current legal order, adversely affects not only the victims but all segments of society.
Unless the perpetrators of Tahir Elçi are brought to justice and tried fairly, murders whose perpetrators are known will continue to remain unsolved. Despite the truth and justice struggle carried out by the Elçi Family, the Diyarbakır Bar Association, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB), the bars whose participation requests were not accepted but who followed the case at every session, and the lawyers, the impunity of the act has justified concerns from the beginning that the judicial authorities do not have the will to solve the murder. As bar associations, we will continue our legal struggle to ensure that the perpetrators of Tahir Elçi’s murder, who dedicated his professional life to fighting impunity, do not go unpunished."
(RT/DT)