The Human Rights Association (IHD) Amed Branch made a statement regarding the 16-month-old Mehmet Uytun case, who lost his life as a result of the gas canister thrown by expert sergeant Hakan Alkan hit his head while he was been fed in his mother's lap in Cizre district of Şırnak on 9 October 2009.

The statement condemned the rejection of IHD's demands without justification at the first hearing held on Monday, February 8, at the Cizre 1st Criminal Court of First Instance and added that “the deficiencies in the investigation file, which has been followed by the legal commission of our association since the first day of the incident and the violation decision by the Constitutional Court  still exist, and our requests submitted to the file for the elimination of these deficiencies and a fair and effective trial have been rejected by the court without any justification”.

The statement informed that after the gas canister, which is the most important evidence in the file, was requested from the property and evidence unit for an expert examination, a report was submitted to the case file stating that the capsule was destroyed by law enforcement.

This situation also illustrates the level of impunity in Turkey" the statement said.

IHD made the following call regarding the case: “We, as the Human Rights Association, stated once again that we will fight with all our might to prevent these and similar deaths from happening again and to carry out the investigations and lawsuits. We urge the authorities to fulfill their responsibilities to eliminate the violations."