‘We speak to people’s conscience: Özkan must be released before he dies’

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Held in prison for 26 years though the prosecutor also found him not guilty, 84-year-old seriously ill prisoner Mehmet Emin Özkan's lawyers requested his release at the hearing yesterday (March 17). The high criminal court has rejected the requests of the lawyers again.

As reported by the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the retrial of Özkan continued at the Adana 7th High Criminal Court in southern Turkey.

Unable to go to the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS) room, where he was to attend the hearing from prison via video conference, due to his health problems, Mehmet Emin Özkan has not been released on the grounds that the Lice Trial has not yet been concluded.

'We talk about a person unable to walk'

Sentenced to life in prison over the massacre in Lice on October 22, 1993, Özkan is currently on retrial. The trial over the Lice massacre has ended in acquittal; the file is pending before the appeals court.

The hearing yesterday was attended by Yasemin Dora Şeker, a lawyer from the Human Rights Association (İHD) Adana Branch, and followed by Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Adana MP Tülay Hatimoğulları.

Announcing its opinion, the prosecutor's office requested that the finalization of the Lice trial at the İzmir 1st High Criminal Court be awaited.

Taking the floor at the hearing, lawyer Şeker raised concerns about the health condition of Mehmet Emin Özkan and said:

"The client faced charges over this incident and was unfairly penalized. He should be released in this file without waiting for the file in İzmir. The client is ill. As it is also reported in the press, his health condition is indeed heart-breaking. We are talking about a person who cannot come to the hearing, cannot walk. We are talking about an 84-year-old person with organ failure.

"The continuation of his arrest for a file that will continue for years is not suitable for his health. We request my client's urgent release in these conditions. Even if he is not released, we request house arrest. We speak to conscience: This person must be released before he dies".

He had 5 heart attacks, cannot walk

83-year-old Mehmet Emin Özkan, throughout his twenty-six years behind bars, had five heart attacks. Held in the Diyarbakır Type D Closed Prison in southeast Turkey, Özkan is now also suffering from Alzheimer, aneurysm, blood pressure problems and goitre as well as kidney and intestinal disorders. He has lost his sense of hearing and sight to a considerable extent and cannot meet his personal needs on his own.

CLICK - 'Tomorrow may be too late for Mehmet Emin Özkan'

Recently, the Forensic Medicine Institution has unanimously concluded that 83-year-old seriously ill prisoner Mehmet Emin Özkan can stay in prison. In a video showing how he was taken to the hospital, it was seen that Özkan was having difficulty walking, but he was still handcuffed.

Prosecutor's office also said he was 'not guilty'

While Özkan, who was convicted of murdering Gendarmerie Regional Commander Bahtiyar Aydın in Lice massacre, was imprisoned for many years, in the case opened 20 years after the massacre, the prosecutor's office said that the one responsible for the massacre was Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Regiment Commander retired Colonel Eşref Hatipoğlu.

The Lice Case, in which the massacre that resulted in the murder of 14 civilians, a soldier and the then Gendarmerie Regional Commander Bahtiyar Aydın on 22 October 1993 in Diyarbakır's Lice was tried, ended with the acquittal of retired Colonel Eşref Hatipoğlu, who was the then Commander of the Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Regiment and the sole defendant.

While the court, in its ruling of acquittal, concluded hat Hatipoğlu was not responsible, it did not answer the question of who killed 16 people.

In the indictment of this case, it was stated that the responsible person was the soldier, not an organization, as it was said at that time.

In fact, the indictment stated that "No information was found that Mehmet Emin Özkan had participated in this action."

Mehmet Emin Özkan was also put on trial again eight years ago from the file in which he had been convicted, but he was neither released nor the evidence of the new file was evaluated.

CLICK - New confessions about 1993 Lice massacre on parliamentary agenda

(AS/SD)