Turkish court released killers of two
Turkish court released killers of two
A Turkish court released two village guards who opened fire on a demonstration in Bulanik district of Mus in December last year and killed two demonstrators. The lawyers of the victims stated that the decision is a clear violation of law and they will resort further legal remedies to challenge the ruling.
Volunteer village guards Turan Bilen and his brother Metin Bilen opened fire on a demonstration held on 15 December 2009 against the ruling from the constitutional court that banned pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). While 2 demonstrators were killed in the fire ten others were injured.
Expert report is not impartial
The victim lawyers objected the expert report regarding the footage of the demonstration and said it is far from being impartial and launching as if the demonstration was held against the defendants not against the ban on the pro-Kurdish party. The lawyers also stated that the footage showing the fire opened by the defendants is deliberately taken out of the case and the testimonies from the so called 'hidden eyewitnesses' cannot be taken into consideration in a criminal procedure. The lawyers further stated that the perpetrators called the head of security directorate 10 minutes after they opened fire on the crowd which shows that they were not panicked but quite self-confident as they did not run away.
While the court rejected the requests from the lawyers to listen to the journalists witnessed the incident it also did not find it necessary to listen to the hidden eyewitnesses and found that their written testimonies will be sufficient.
Self-defence is manipulated
The victims' lawyer Abdül Baki Çelebi stated that the court released the defendants on account of self-defence despite the fact that it was a peaceful demonstration and no demonstrator had weapon. He also said if the court interprets self-defence in a way like this such killings are likely to happen in future.
Kurdish MP of BDP Nuri Yaman who watched the trial said they were expecting a court acting in accordance with rule of law. However, what they saw was aggressive judges violating the right to defence before a court and acting in favour of state-oriented paramilitary.
Volunteer village guards Turan Bilen and his brother Metin Bilen opened fire on a demonstration held on 15 December 2009 against the ruling from the constitutional court that banned pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). While 2 demonstrators were killed in the fire ten others were injured.
Expert report is not impartial
The victim lawyers objected the expert report regarding the footage of the demonstration and said it is far from being impartial and launching as if the demonstration was held against the defendants not against the ban on the pro-Kurdish party. The lawyers also stated that the footage showing the fire opened by the defendants is deliberately taken out of the case and the testimonies from the so called 'hidden eyewitnesses' cannot be taken into consideration in a criminal procedure. The lawyers further stated that the perpetrators called the head of security directorate 10 minutes after they opened fire on the crowd which shows that they were not panicked but quite self-confident as they did not run away.
While the court rejected the requests from the lawyers to listen to the journalists witnessed the incident it also did not find it necessary to listen to the hidden eyewitnesses and found that their written testimonies will be sufficient.
Self-defence is manipulated
The victims' lawyer Abdül Baki Çelebi stated that the court released the defendants on account of self-defence despite the fact that it was a peaceful demonstration and no demonstrator had weapon. He also said if the court interprets self-defence in a way like this such killings are likely to happen in future.
Kurdish MP of BDP Nuri Yaman who watched the trial said they were expecting a court acting in accordance with rule of law. However, what they saw was aggressive judges violating the right to defence before a court and acting in favour of state-oriented paramilitary.
