AMED - 80 bar associations reacted against the acquittal of the police officers in the Tahir Elçi case and said "We will not give up the struggle for truth and justice".
Reactions against the Court of Appeal's upholding the acquittal verdict of Sinan Tabur, Fuat Tan and Mesut Sevgi, the police officers charged with "causing death by negligence" in the murder of Tahir Elçi, former Chair of the Amed (Diyarbakır) Bar Association, in front of the historical Four-Legged Minaret in Sûr district of Amed on 28 November 2015. 80 bar associations reacted with a written statement titled "We will not give up the struggle for truth and justice".
In the statement, it was noted that the policy of impunity was pursued from the first moment in the massacre that took place in front of the cameras.
The satement reads: "We would like to express that we see this decision given in the appeal process as a part of the impunity process. No request was taken into consideration and continues to be ignored. Attempts to obfuscate the truth, as revealed by the testimony of confessors during the trial, were not taken seriously and the prosecution was not deepened. Although the Prime Minister of the time Ahmet Davutoğlu's statement of 'political murder' drew the attention of the whole society, it failed to attract the attention of the judicial authorities. We respectfully announce to the public that we do not accept the attitude of impunity in the Tahir Elçi case and that we will continue to follow the legal process."
SIGNATORY BAR ASSOCIATIONS
The bar associations that signed the statement are as follows: "Adana, Semsur (Adıyaman), Afyonkarahisar, Agirî (Ağrı), Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Erdexan (Ardahan), Artvin, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bartın, Êlih (Batman), Bayburt, Bilecik, Çewlîg (Bingöl), Bedlis (Bitlis), Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Çanakkale, Çankırı, Çorum, Denizli, Amed, Düzce, Edirne, Xarpêt (Elazığ), Erzingan (Erzincan), Erzirom (Erzurum), Eskişehir, Dilok (Antep), Giresun, Gümüşhane, Colemêrg (Hakkari), Hatay, Idîr (Iğdır), Isparta, İstanbul, İzmir, Mereş, Karabük, Qers (Kars), Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kırıkkale, Kırklareli, Kırşehir, Kilis, Kocaeli, Konya, Kütahya, Meletî (Malatya), Manisa, Mêrdîn (Mardin), Mersin, Muğla, Mûş (Muş), Nevşehir, Niğde, Ordu, Osmaniye, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Sêrt (Siirt), Sinop, Sewas (Sivas), Riha (Urfa), Şirnex (Şırnak), Tekirdağ, Tokat, Trabzon, Dêrsim (Tunceli), Uşak, Wan (Van), Yalova, Yozgat, Zonguldak."