(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF, defense lawyers have asked for acquittals for the eleven police officers accused of the murder of journalist/photographer Metin Goktepe. Goktepe, journalist for the extreme-left daily “Evrensel”, was beaten to death on 8 January 1996 in Istanbul. **Updates IFEX alerts of 17 February; 9 January 1998; 1 December, 10 November, 9 […]
(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF, defense lawyers have asked for acquittals for
the eleven police officers accused of the murder of journalist/photographer
Metin Goktepe. Goktepe, journalist for the extreme-left daily “Evrensel”,
was beaten to death on 8 January 1996 in Istanbul.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 17 February; 9 January 1998; 1 December, 10
November, 9 October, 17 September, 22 August, 30 July 1997; and others**
The fifteenth hearing in the trial was reserved for submissions by all the
parties. Only one of the eleven accused officers was absent from the
hearing, which took place in the Court of Assizes in Afyon (in western Turkey).
Fikret Yildiz, one of the prosecutors, asked the court to retain the element
of “intent to kill” in the charges against the officers, pursuant to article
450 of the criminal code. He asked the President of the Court to remand in
custody the five police officers who are still free.
Defense lawyers, on the other hand, asked that the eleven officers be
acquitted. They reaffirmed that their clients’ depositions had been obtained
through the use of torture. They also emphasized that there had been
irregularities in the proceedings and contradictions in the testimony of
eyewitnesses.
As the verdict approaches, RSF stresses that the trial must bring to light
the criminal responsibility of the accused police officers. The next hearing
in the murder trial is scheduled for 19 March 1998 in Afyon.
RSF believes that those senior police officials implicated in Goktepe’s
murder, who have so far evaded judicial proceedings, must take their place
in the accuseds’ dock. RSF joins in the appeal, launched by Goktepe’s family
during the trial, demanding “equitable justice.” RSF notes that, since 1988,
twenty journalists have been killed in Turkey. This trial must set an
example so that this pattern of violence ends.
