İHD: Metin Göktepe'yi unutmadık

The Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association recalled Metin Göktepe, a reporter for the Evrensel newspaper who was killed by police officers 27 years ago today, and sent a written statement to the press.

"Metin was detained while performing his journalistic duties and tortured to death under the guise of 'special treatment of journalists'," the statement begins:

"The text was slaughtered by dark hands who were disturbed by the activities of the free press to make the public know the truth. Those who wanted to hide their crimes first tried to hide the fact that they were taken into custody, and then to hide the cause of death, saying "he fell from the chair, he died" and left the crime unpunished.

"After the case was deported from Istanbul to Aydın and from there to Afyon for 3 years, as a result of an intense and persistent effort, 6 police officers who caused Metin's death were sentenced only for the crime of "manslaughter by exceeding caste" and the murderers were openly protected by making a good conduct reduction.

"We know that; Metin Göktepe was tortured and deliberately killed, the judiciary protected the killers, and applied a good conduct discount to torture, which is an absolute prohibition in both national and international law. Justice did not happen.

"As human rights defenders, we are celebrating the 27th anniversary of his passing. We have not forgotten Metin Göktepe and what happened, we know his killers and we are following the incident until justice is done. We have not forgotten, we will not make you forget!."

Metin Göktepe's murder

On the morning of January 4, 1996, soldiers entered Ümraniye Prison and severely beat the prisoners with sticks and butts. Prisoners Abdülmecid Seçkin, Orhan Özen, Rıza Boybaş and Gültekin Beyhan died in the hospital.

CLICK - "The attack on Ümraniye Prison was part of the MGK plan"

Metin Göktepe went to Alibeyköy to watch the funeral of Orhan Özen and Rıza Boybaş, two of the prisoners killed on January 8, 1996.

He was not allowed into the district on the grounds that he did not have a press card, and he was detained along with hundreds of other people. He was subjected to police violence and killed in the Eyüp Indoor Sports Hall where he was taken. He allegedly fell from the wall.

The Göktepe Trial, which was moved from Istanbul to Aydın and Afyon on "security" grounds, ended on September 28, 2000 with the approval of the seven years and six months prison sentences given to five police officers on charges of "killing people exceeding caste" and "killing people in a way that the perpetrator cannot be determined." One police officer was sentenced to 20 months in prison and five months of suspension from public service after the Court of Cassation overturned the verdict.

The completion of the sentences of the convicted police officers was prevented by the Parole and Suspension of Sentence Act, which came into force on December 19, 2000.

About Göktepe

He was born on April 10, 1968 in the village of Çipil in the Gürün district of Sivas. He started his journalism career in 1992 in the magazine Gerçek in News and Commentary. He took part in the Evrensel newspaper, which was founded on June 7, 1995, from the beginning.

(EMK)

İHD: Metin Göktepe'yi unutmadık

İstanbul

Metin Göktepe's murder