AMED - Listing the shortcomings in the Tahir Elçi murder, Amed Bar Association President Nahit Eren said: "The reluctance that has existed since the first day to reveal this murder still continues."

 

8 years have passed since the murder of Amed Bar Association President Tahir Elçi, who was murdered in front of the Four-Legged Minaret in Sur district of Amed on November 28, 2015. Amed Bar Association President Nahit Eren evaluated the murder and the legal process that followed.

 

Eren said that there was not a single suspect during the investigation process for 4 years and 6 months and that this process was carried out "reluctantly". However, reminding that the indictment was prepared after the images were examined abroad upon the initiative of the baron, Eren said: "We know very well that the murder of Tahir Elçi is not a murder that can only be confined to the Four-Legged Minaret. The reluctance in the investigation was due to Elçi's words in a TV program. During this process, Elçi was targeted and threatened, and then long-lasting curfews and clashes in Sur began. In fact, it shows us that this murder is not just a murder that took place on the street where the Four-Legged Minaret is located. There was reluctance in this sense, too. The crime scene investigation was not carried out properly, and the discovery was postponed, citing the events that took place in Suriçi at that time as a reason. If you cannot obtain the bullet of the gun that caused the death, you will have to walk the road with other evidence. Both in terms of investigation and trial."

 

LOST FOOTAGE

 

Drawing attention that Elçi was murdered not only in front of dozens of journalists' offices but also in front of the security camera, Eren said: "The 12-second video of the security camera was missing at the exact time Elçi was killed. The 12-second missing footage of the police camera, the absence of footage from the post office camera on the street, and the absence of footage from Mardin Kebap Evi number 4, which saw the spot where Elçi was murdered. Now, these are the most important evidence for the case file, both during the investigation process and afterwards. But we could not get close to these records during the investigation phase. We could not access the original footage of the device through correspondence with the Diyarbakır Police Department regarding this matter. In other words, original records are needed to evaluate whether that deduction was made or not. Only the relevant police officer's statement was taken and he says that he got scared at that moment and left the recording. But what a coincidence, it coincides with that exact moment."

 

'A MEDIOCRE INDICTMENT WAS PREPARED'

 

Describing the prepared indictment as "mediocre", Eren said: "An indictment was prepared in which 3 police officers who were suspected in the incident and a person wanted for another crime were suspected, and this was an indication of how careless the investigation and indictment were. The indictment showed how murder could be manipulated. It was that indictment that showed us how murder could be manipulated. As a matter of fact, we expressed our criticisms against that indictment in the first hearing, but the attitude of the court panel in the first hearing, which did not match the seriousness and seriousness of that case, and especially towards us as the participating parties, was truly disturbing. It started out problematic, but after a while it got back on track. At the next hearing, all our requests that could shed light on the murder were rejected by the court. The court somehow wants to reduce the murder to just that moment and treat it as an ordinary murder case. But we want this investigation to be carried out in all aspects of this murder, including going to that process, what happened after that process, obscuring the evidence and manipulating the investigation process."

 

'RELUCTANCE CONTINUES'

 

Referring to the statement of Deniz Ateş, who was allegedly caught during the clashes in Sur and whose statement was taken as a witness by the investigation prosecutor, while being heard at the hearing, he stated that Elçi was killed by the organization and that he was tortured and ill-treated for this reason. He noted that the witness's testimony is also very important; however, pointing out that despite the witness's statement, the court did not file a criminal complaint against the prosecutor who conducted the investigation, Eren said: “We filed a criminal complaint against the prosecutors in question at that time, but unfortunately, those investigations and complaints did not result in the way we wanted. Unfortunately, in this file, the reluctance that has existed since the first day to reveal this assassination, this murder, can still maintain itself, and I can clearly state that it has not yet reached a point that satisfies us in revealing the material truth of this case in all its aspects."