Transphobic defense by defendant’s lawyer at Hande Buse Şeker case

* Image: Kaos GL/ Aslı Alpar

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As the Regional Administrative Court overturned the ruling in the trial over the killing of Hande Buse Şeker, the first hearing of the retrial was held at the İzmir 4th Heavy Penal Court today (October 7).

As reported by Yıldız Tar from Kaos GL, the hearing was attended by lawyers Kerem Dikmen, Mahmut Şeren and Sena Yazıbağlı, who represented Hande Buse Şeker. Defendant Volkan H. was brought to the courtroom from the prison where he has been arrested.

Young LGBTI+ Association and Colors of Resistance İzmir activists followed the hearing. As the file had not yet been sent by the Forensic Medical Institution, the hearing has been adjourned till December 30.

Hande Buse Şeker's lawyers recalled that in examining the appeals, the 4th Penal Chamber of the İzmir Regional Court of Justice did not accept the request for aggravated life sentence while it demanded an increase in the sentences given for sexual assault, plunder and injury. The lawyers criticized the rejection of the requests for aggravated life imprisonment.

Transphobia at court

The lawyers also underlined that it was not a right decision on the part of the Regional Administrative Court that it found the involvement of the Ministry of Family and Social Services in the court case unlawful.

As indicated by the plaintiff's lawyers at the hearing, while the Regional Administrative Court cited the Code of Criminal Procedure, the first instance court gave this decision as per the Law no. 6284 on the Protection of Family and Prevention of Violence Against Women.

In response to this, defendant Volkan H.'s lawyer took the floor and defended his/her client with transphobic remarks. "It is not an incident within the family," the lawyer said and argued that "the killed person was not a woman, but man" even though Şeker was a trans woman.

As the upper court reversed the decision allowing for the Family Ministry's involvement in the case, the İzmir 4th Heavy Penal Court does not have the authority to not abide by this ruling.

About Hande Buse Şeker case

Hande Buse Şeker was a trans woman who lived in İzmir and made a living as a sex worker. Police officer Volkan H. shot Hande Buse Şeker to death with his service weapon while he was not on duty. The incident happened in Şeker's house in İzmir's Alsancak on January 9, 2019 and H. mugged and sexually assaulted her and wounded her friend at the house.

A lawsuit was filed against police officer Volkan H. at the İzmir 4th Heavy Penal Court. The hearings were closed for some time. As a result of the lawyers' appeals and objections, this decision was removed and the hearing was opened to the public. At the eighth hearing on November 26, 2020, the first instance court handed down its ruling. (EMK/SD)