Turkey: No Court Decision in Criminal Case After 80 Hearings

In Turkey, the case of Savaş Çelik, accused of terrorism and being involved in the assassination of Turkish military officer Major Arslan Kulaksız, continues after its 80th hearing. In the case involving twelve defendants, Savaş Çelik remains the only defendant still in pretrial detention after three years. Çelik’s lawyers claim the charges are unfounded.

Three years, three indictments, dozens of investigations, and 80 hearings later, the picture that has emerged before the Muş 1st High Criminal Court remains unclear. According to his lawyers, Çelik was linked to “terrorism” from the very beginning solely on the grounds that he was unlawfully taken by the National Intelligence Organization(MİT) and brought to Turkey.

Çelik’s lawyers argue that the case has been continuously reconstructed to sustain this terrorism claim. As a result, Çelik’s life is left in a state of limbo, and the material truth behind the Kulaksız assassination remains shrouded in darkness.

Another Piece of Evidence Has Been Refuted

The 80th hearing began with Çelik giving a statement:

“I have been in prison for three years because of a case pinned on me under the guise of a tribal dispute. I was subjected to severe torture for 87 days. In the end, they told me, ‘We had to do this to you. You are innocent, we found that out.’”

The latest hearing at the Muş 1st High Criminal Court began around noon on December 26. Defense lawyers were present, but none of the defendants who were not in custody appeared in the courtroom. Savaş Çelik was connected via the Audio and Visual Information System from Erzurum Dumlupınar Type T Prison. He was standing alone in a narrow white room.

The assessment from the forensic authorities revealed that the individual in the photographs was not Savaş Çelik.

The reason the hearing had been extended – and the basis for Çelik’s continued pretrial detention – was an investigation launched into photographs reportedly seized after an armed clash in the Kurdish Hakkari (Colemêrg) province.

According to the defense lawyers, although it was immediately apparent at first glance that the physical characteristics of the person in the photographs did not match those of Çelik, the court nonetheless used the matter as grounds to prolong the case. The assessment from the forensic authorities revealed that the individual in the photographs was not Savaş Çelik.

Çelik’s Lawyer: Who Is at the Helm of This Trial?

Çelik’s lawyer, Şule Recepoğlu, laid out the indictments, the contradictions, and the unlawful practices in the case and offered a condensed account of what had transpired over the course of 79 hearings.

Çelik continues to suffer from serious health problems and his access to medical treatment remains restricted.

She argued that as the case has proceeded and shown Çelik to be clear of wrongdoings, the court’s decisions have worked to prolong the proceedings, rather than to reach the truth.

Recepoğlu described the court’s actions not only as irregular, but also claimed that a crime was being manufactured for her client. Challenging the decisions leading up to the 80^th hearing, she posed the following question: “Who is at the helm of this trial?”

Another critical line of the defense concerned the 87 days of torture Çelik endured and their aftermath. Çelik continues to suffer from serious health problems, and his access to medical treatment remains restricted.

According to Recepoğlu, insisting on continued detention under these conditions amounts to the continuation of ill-treatment. Recepoğlu concluded her defense by requesting that her client be released, at the very least, under judicial control.

The Case’s Phantom Witnesses

The court ruled to continue Çelik’s detention, citing a request to hear testimony from Ahmet Altın’s two children – Ahmet Altın is the plaintiff in one of the indictments against Çelik.

According to Recepoğlu, Ahmet Altın had previously personally appeared before the court and stated, “The person who did this to me is not Savaş Çelik; I have no information whatsoever about Savaş.”

“Either there are no serious charges to begin with, or the case is being sustained through fabricated witnesses.”

Despite this admission, the court has decided that further information is necessary from Altın’s children and has kept them in the case as material witnesses. However, Serhat and Suzan Altın have been unreachable for a long time. Summonses have been issued and letters of request sent, but the witnesses have neither appeared in court nor given any statement outside of the court.

Recepoğlu argued that if the “most crucial witnesses” cannot be reached for years, then, “Either there are no serious charges to begin with, or the case is being sustained through fabricated witnesses.”

Additionally, she claimed that the court’s intentions are not to reach material truth, as, despite the defense’s insistence, the only person who was a witness to Kulaksız’s death, Kulaksız’s wife, has never been brought to testify in court.