12.11.2010 Daily Human Rights Report
(11/048) Explosion in Şırnak Province…
Rojivan İdem (4) was killed and Beşir İdem (6) was wounded in the explosion of an object they found in their garden in Aslantepe Village which is situated between Cizre and İdil Districts of Şırnak Province on 11 November 2010 (ntvmsnbc.com; ANF, 11 November).
(11/049) The case on the extra-judicial killing in Gümüşhane Province…
Gümüşhane Heavy Penal Court had sentenced Senior Lieutenant Bülent Kılıç to 30 years of imprisonment and had acquitted seven soldiers in connection with killing Kenan Çubukçu (34) and Olcayhan Bayrak (17), and wounding Selahattin Çubukçu (30) and İsmail Sarı (19) in the rural part of Elmaçukuru Village of Şiran District of Gümüşhane Province on 17 September 2004 on the grounds that they were Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKKKurdish Workers' Party ) armed wing People’s Defence Forces (HPGPeople's Defence Forces (armed wing of the PKK) ) militants.
The Supreme Court of Appeal’s Penal Chamber No. 1 had annulled the sentence on the grounds that “the case should be heard in martial court”. The case sent back to Gümüşhane Heavy Penal Court after nolle prosequi verdict of the martial court.
The court’s prosecutor asked for the execution of the apprehension warranty against Senior Lieutenant Bülent Kılıç and time to gather the missing documents on 11 November 2010. The court adjourned the hearing (Zaman, 11 November).
(11/050) Mehmet Ağar’s Trial in Susurluk Case…
The prosecutor of Ankara Heavy Penal Court No. 11 demanded imprisonment of one year for the former Chief of Police Mehmet Ağar. Ağar allegedly aided Yaşar Öz who was convicted in the so-called Susurluk trial and Abdullah Çatlı who was killed in the accident that happened in Susurluk in western Turkey. Several occupants died in the accident that caused a major scandal in the country because it revealed connections between the Istanbul police, the neo-fascist Grey Wolves organisation and politicians.
In his final plea, the Public Prosecutor claimed that Ağar helped both Öz and Çatlı to obtain a gun license to avoid their arrest and prosecution. He said that the defendant provided both men with a green passport for an easy entry and exit of the country and assisted them in obtaining a gun licence.
In the hearing on Thursday (11 November), members of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD) reiterated their request for a joint plaintiff status on behalf of relatives who lost a family member around the time of the incident. The lawyers submitted similar requests in each of the previous hearings. This time, they applied on behalf of Fatma Bahçeci and Şeyhmus Bahçeci who had lost their relative İsmail Bahçeci at the time. However, the court dismissed the request reasoning that the interveners had no connection to the subject of the trial.
ÇHD President Selçuk Kozağaçlı told bianet that the final speech of the prosecution even remained behind the evaluation and the sentences previously given by the Istanbul State Security Court for the defendants of the Susurluk case.
Kozağaçlı explained that the prosecutor referred to Article 314/1 of the former Criminal Law which could also be applied to "three youngsters who stole a chicken". According to the ÇHD President, Ağar should be punished under charges of "managing an illegal organization" since he was to held responsible for severe violations of human rights which particularly occurred in the first half of the 1990s.
"It has been confirmed that this person had connections to İbrahim Şahin [former deputy chair of the Special Operations Office], Ayhan Çarkın [police officer] and Korkut Eken [defendant of the Susurluk trial]. He was part of a gang with a team formed during his time at the police directorate. We also said this gang should not only be tried for these crimes. We asked to prosecute them for extrajudicial killings, raids on homes and abductions in the light of police operations against the opposition of the gang. However, all our requests were rejected. Mehmet Ağar said that they had carried out a thousand operations. We will also file a thousand requests for joint plaintiff status until the end of this case", Kozağaçlı indicated.
A final decision on the case is expected for next hearing which is scheduled for 3 February 2011 (bianet.org, 11 November).
(11/051) Tried police officers in connection with murder in detention with torture…
Istanbul Chief Public Prosecution Office finalised the indictment against six police officer –one of them is chief commissar- in connection with death of Murat Konuş (35) who claimed to die in Security Branch department due to heart attack as his body was searched on 7 January 2010 on charges of “causing homicide with torture” reported on 26 May 2010. Four officers had been detained on 20 April 2010 after the report of Forensic Medicine Institute that documents that Murat Konuş was killed with torture. The prosecutor asked for an imprisonment up to life sentence without parole.
Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 2 went on hearing the case against the six officers 11 November 2010. The lawyers of the defendants asked for the release of their defendants. The court adjudicated to release two of the defendants and adjourned the hearing to gather the missing documents (Cumhuriyet, 11 November).
(11/052) Officers tried with torture charges...
Bakırköy Heavy Penal Court No. 6 began to hear the case against police officers Emel Şenel Soylu and Yakup Şahin working in Osmaniye Police Station in connection with beating D.E. in the station who had been detained by civil police officers near his family with theft charges in Bakırköy District of Istanbul Province on 13 March 2010 and released after the identity check –the officers apologised from him and told him that he had been detained on the grounds that “he look like a Roma person”- on charges of “torture” and Yakup Şahin also from “misconduct in office” on 11 November 2010. The defendant Emel Şenel Soylu, claimed that she did not intentionally beat D.E. and she used for to overcome his resistance. The court adjourned the hearing to gather the missing documents (Star, 12 November).
(11/053) Ongoing KCK/TMKCK Par lament Turkey Main Case…
Diyarbakır Heavy Penal Court No. 6 went on hearing the case against 152 defendants -104 of them are pre-trial detainees- who had been detained in the Koma Ciwaken Kurdistan-Kurdistan Communities League /Assembly of Turkey (KCK/TM), the KCKUnion of Communities in Kurdistan is the intend to organize the Kurdish people as an umbrella organization that includes Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), operations on 14 April, 11 and 17 June and 25 December 2009 on charges of “constituting an illegal structure and acting in the context of it” on 11 November 2010.
In the fourteenth session of the first hearing, the court called the defendant Kamuran Yüksek to make his legal argument Yüksek announced that he will make his legal argument in Kurdish and then the court called the defendants one after another. All the defendants announced that they will make their legal argument in Kurdish. İbrahim Tali Uysal, one of the lawyers of the defendants, asked the defendants to lay aside their decision to make their legal arguments in Kurdish. The court adjourned the hearing to 13 January 2011 (ANF, 11 November).
(11/054) Hindered march in Şanlıurfa Province…
Police teams interfered the march for the “25 November International Combat Day against the Violence on Women” in Şanlıurfa Province which started from Hakkari Province to Ankara Province on 11 November 2010. Eleven people were detained with excessive violence in the intervention. The police also interfered to the group who demand the releasement of the detainees and detained 25 other people (ozgurradyo.com, 11 November).
