State Officials Charged with Burning 9 People Acquitted
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Mehmet Nasir Öğüt, Eşref Oran, Sevda Öğüt, Sevim Öğüt, Mehmet Şakir Öğüt, Mehmet Şirin Öğüt, Aycan Öğüt, Cihan Öğüt and Cinal Öğüt residing in Vartinis village of Korkut district in Muş province on October 2, 1993, have been burned to dead in their houses.
The court has ruled acquittal of the defendants over “lack of evidence” in the lawsuit brought three years ago.
Victim’s lawyer Kadir Karaçelik in his statement to bianet said, “This is where words fail”.
At the time of the incident, then Hasköy District Gendarmerie Company Commander, now Gendarmerie Captain Bülent Karaoğlu, Hasköy District Gendarmerie Commando Company Commander First Lieutenant Hanefi Akyıldız, Muş Security Directorate Special Forces Unit Head Şerafettin Uz, and Gendarmerie Sergeant Major Turhan Nardoğan have been tried as defendants.
“We have faced with the wall of impunity”
Lawyer Karaçelik spoke as follows as to the case:
“The prosecutor changed the dictum three times, in the dictum today he demanded acquittal of three and penalty of one yet the court has returned an acquittal for all the defendants. One judge member has lodged a statement of opposition. We will be able to see the statement along with the decision.
“We have with impunity in each step as of 1993. We were keeping our hope despite everything but also worried. We saw that we were right about our worries. Once again, it is revealed that law is an instrument serving for the order. We were saying superficial, not sincere as to these cases. It has turned into a tool of vindication for the perpetrators who committed crime in that period”.
Prosecutor: There is no conclusive evidence
The prosecutor in his dictum today claimed “there is no conclusive evidence”:
“… In order to punish the defendants, those killing 9 people by starting fire have to be determined. This couldn’t be determined. There is doubt on whether the defendants committed the crime they were charged with. Conclusive evidence far from doubt on whether the defendants deliberately set the house on fire or people whom are not identified and thought to instigate the crime”.
The hearing started at 1:30 p.m. yesterday (March 1). While one of the defendants, Şerafettin Uz didn’t attend the hearing, the other defendants, Bülent Karaoğlu, Turhan Nurdoğan, Hanefi Akyıldız attended it.
The prosecutor made a third change in the dictum and demanded acquittal of the defendants except for Bülent Karaoğlu.
Öğüt: They deliberately killed my family
The only survivor of the incident, Aysel Öğüt who attended the court as intervening person, took the floor following the dictum: “We’ve said hundreds of times. I will not accept acquittal. They deliberately killed my family”.
“The incident took place outside the village in the morning. They burned my siblings of whom the eldest one is 14 years old, my father who just wanted to raise his kids, by order of Bülent Karaoğlu.
“I am hurt so bad in my heart. When Mr. Prosecutor said ‘acquittal’, I felt like my parents died today. My family was innocent, they were aggrieved. I have been suffering for 22 years, let them suffer too”.
Aysel Öğüt’s uncle said, “There was no terror incident in the village, they burned my brother’s house to say ‘we burn this village’. We are left homeless, couldn’t educate our children”.
What had happened?
Mehmet Nasir Öğüt, Eşref Oran, Sevda Öğüt, Sevim Öğüt, Mehmet Şakir Öğüt, Mehmet Şirin Öğüt, Aycan Öğüt, Cihan Öğüt and Cinal Öğüt residing in Vartinis were murdered by military men on October 2, 1993.
The soldiers raiding the village burned nine people including seven children by locking them in their house. They all lost their lives.
The first trial was held on December 4. The defendants said they don't "remember the incident" or "PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) started the fire" in their first testimony.
Then Hasköy District Gendarmerie Company Commander, now Gendarmerie Captain Bülent Karaoğlu, Hasköy District Gendarmerie Commando Company Commander First Lieutenant Hanefi Akyıldız, Muş Security Directorate Special Forces Unit Head Şerafettin Uz, and Gendarmerie Sergeant Major Turhan Nardoğan have been tried as defendants.
None have been arrested. (AS/TK)