* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)
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The lawsuit filed into the killing of Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Tahir Elçi began at the Diyarbakır 10th Heavy Penal Court today (October 21).
The court rejected all requests of the Elçi family as to the procedure; in response to this, the attorneys of the family requested recusal.
The court has ruled that this request shall be examined by the upper court. The next hearing of the case will be held on March 3, 2021.
The trial has begun five years after Elçi was murdered while making a statement in front of the Four-Legged Minaret in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır on November 28, 2015.
Most journalists not allowed into courtroom
A limited number of people were allowed to attend the hearing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawyers from the Diyarbakır Bar Association, bar association chairs and lawyers, representatives from civil society organizations, Sema Kılıçer from the European Union Delegation, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MPs Mehmet Rüştü Tiryaki, Dersim Dağ, Hişyar Özsoy, İmam Taşçıer and Necdet İpekyüz, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu and Independent MP Ahmet Şık are following the hearing that began at around 11.30 a.m.
Defendant police officers attended the hearing via the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS).
The court board announced that they decided to hear the testimonies of the defendants before receiving the requests for intervening in the trial.
Attorney Fikret İlkiz objected to this decision, indicating that it was against the due procedure of law. However, the court board stated that the statements of defendants would be taken first.
Defendants won't be brought to courtroom
The attorneys of Elçi family said that the attendance of the defendants via the SEGBİS system was against the principle of immediacy, as it was also against the Article 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK) and the judgements of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. The attorneys requested the reversal of the decision.
The court board asked the police officers where they wanted to testify. They stated that they wanted to make their defense where they were and announced that they would not come to the courtroom.
The attorneys of Elçi family said that the bill of indictment was prepared as if it had been an ordinary indictment of murder, underlining that Tahir Elçi's vision of human rights, the conditions where he was lynched and the climate created against him were not considered.
The court board recessed the hearing for 10 minutes in order to discuss the requests for receiving demands for intervention in the case before hearing the testimonies and for hearing the defendants in courtroom.
Following the recess, the court board rejected the request for bringing the defendant police officers to the courtroom by indicating that they did not want to be present in the hearing and that it was possible for the Elçi family's attorneys to ask defendants questions via the SEGBİS system.
'The court is acting negligently'
It was then understood that delegated judges who had to be present at the courts where the testimonies of defendants would be taken via the SEGBİS system were not there. The court indicated that there was no obligation to have delegated judges and rejected the Elçi family's request for delegated judges and for the testimonies to be taken in a face-to-face interrogation.
The attorneys of the Elçi family made statements and protested, saying that the court "was handling a file about the killing of a bar association chair in a negligent manner." The court board left the courtroom for negotiations without making any explanations to the audience.
Taking the floor after the recess, Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Cihan Aydın said, "Mr. Presiding Judge, what we see here today is a behavior that does not suit a judge. We reject all requests on procedural grounds. You recessed the hearing for 3 times. We showed patience in this investigation for 5 years. We will no longer show patience in the face of this unlawfulness. We request a recess for consultation.
The court board took another break.
'You have lost your impartiality'
Following the recess, the attorneys of the Elçi family made a request to speak; in response to this request, the court board indicated that the attorneys were disturbing the order of the hearing.
Türkan Elçi, both an attorney for the family and the wife of Tahir Elçi, wanted to make a statement expressing her own feelings and opinions. "I had full confidence in you until I came here," she said.
The court decided that Türkan Elçi be warned, indicating that she would otherwise be ordered out of the courtroom.
Following another recess after this warning, the plaintiffs' attorneys expressed the reasons for recusal. In response to this, the court board ruled that the plaintiffs' attorneys should be taken out of the courtroom by police force. However, the trial continued upon the objections of attorneys.
The attorneys of the Elçi family stated, "A criminal procedure is a discipline directly related to human rights. We want not only the identification of the defendants cited in the indictment, but that of the real criminals, the ones standing in the background as well."
"Bar association chairs are killed in this country; the world was shaken, but your court - with its attitude - only shows that it is not objective. If you will continue insisting on this, then, withdraw as a court."
Nahit Eren, one of the attorneys for the Elçi family, also said, "You are trying to hear a case by even not allowing a woman who lost her husband to speak. (...) You are trying to show us you can do whatever you like. You cannot continue the hearing. You have apparently lost your impartiality."
Attorney Mahsuni Karaman also said, "What you have done has cast a shadow on your impartiality. Even accepting this bill of indictment is a reason for your withdrawal. The state will make the Tahir Elçi murder end in impunity. And you are being a tool for this."
The court board recessed the hearing to discuss the request for recusal. After the recess, the court board has ruled that the request for recusal shall be examined by the upper court, the Diyarbakır 11th Heavy Penal Court, and adjourned the hearing until March 3, 2021.
13-second video footage is 'missing'
Attorney Mahsuni Karaman said that a 13-second part of the video footage captured by police cameras was missing. He previously announced that Tahir Elçi was shot to death within these 13 seconds.
Indicating that the video footage focused on two Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants' running towards the Four-Legged Minaret in Diyarbakır, Karaman said, "All video records continue without interruption, the entire process is seen. The only record missing is the record of the Photofilm Bureau. The footage freezes at the moment when Elçi heard the voice and was startled; the same record starts with two militants' entering the street. We compared the video records, there is a 13-second gap, interruption in that record. Tahir Elçi was shot within these 13 seconds."
CLICK - Forensic Architecture Announces Report on Tahir Elçi Murder
Forensic Architecture, a research agency based in the University of London, released a report of its investigation into lawyer Tahir Elçi's murder.
The report has concluded that three police officers at the scene of the incident were the most likely suspects of the killing.
About the indictment
The indictment was lodged by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on March 26, 2020 and accepted by the 10th Heavy Penal Court on April 3, 2020. While there are five complainants, including the wife of late lawyer Türkan Elçi, in the 40-page indictment, there are four accused suspects, among whom are also three police officers.
Police officers S.T., M.S. and F.T. face the charges of "causing death by culpable negligence" as per the Article 85/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The indictment demands 2 to 6 years in prison for the officers.
Uğur Yakışır, the other suspect, also faces the charges of "wilful killing, killing with eventual intent, opposition to Law no. 6136 on Firearms and Knives, disrupting the unity of the state and integrity of the country, damaging property." The indictment demands aggravated life sentence for Yakışır, who is also accused of murdering police officers Cengiz Erdur and Ahmet Çiftaslan, who were killed on the same day with Tahir Elçi.
CLICK - Indictment Against 4 People, Including 3 Police Officers, 5 Years After Tahir Elçi Murder
What happened?
Tahir Elçi attended a live TV program on CNN Türk hosted by Ahmet Hakan on October 15, 2015. Elçi said, "The PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] is not a terrorist organization." While the channel was fined 700 thousand lira over these words, Tahir Elçi was detained in his office in Diyarbakır Bar Association and taken to İstanbul on November 20.
While the prosecutor's office referred Elçi to court with a request for his arrest, the Bakırköy 2nd Heavy Penal Court released him on probation. A bill of indictment was brought against Elçi on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization." Elçi faced up to 7.5 years in prison.
Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Tahir Elçi was murdered while making a statement for the press in front of the Four-Legged Minaret in Sur, Diyarbakır on November 28, 2015. (AS/SD)
