(RSF/IFEX) – On 9 October 1997, the ninth hearing in the trial of eleven police officers charged in the murder of journalist Metin Goktepe took place in their presence in the Afyon Court of Assizes, in western Turkey. Three witnesses for the prosecution, Deniz Ozcan, Ali Ekber Palabiyik et Hayati Gungoren, attended the hearing. **Updates […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 9 October 1997, the ninth hearing in the trial of
eleven police officers charged in the murder of journalist Metin
Goktepe took place in their presence in the Afyon Court of
Assizes, in western Turkey. Three witnesses for the prosecution,
Deniz Ozcan, Ali Ekber Palabiyik et Hayati Gungoren, attended the
hearing.
**Updates IFEX alerts dated 17 September, 22 August, 30 July
1997, 18 October, 9 January 1996, and others**
At the conclusion of the hearing, the head of the court ordered
that there be a re-enactment of the crime involving all the
protagonists. However, the date of the re-enactment was not set.
The judge also decided to have kept in detention five of the
accused police officers. He also repeated his request that the
results of the autopsy done on Goktepe’s body be delivered to
him, adding that he still wanted the police officers in charge of
the investigation to appear before the court in order to respond
specifically to claims made by lawyers for the accused officers
that their clients were allegedly tortured by their “colleagues.”
The next hearing is to take place on 6 November in Afyon.
Goktepe, who worked for the leftist daily “Evrensel”, was
arrested and beaten to death on 8 January 1996 in a sports
complex in Istanbul (see IFEX alerts).
