Lawyers Launch A Campaign Against Former Police Chief Ağar

A group of lawyers who are members of the Istanbul branch of the Contemporary Jurists Association (ÇHD) are planning to join the trial in which Mehmet Ağar will be prosecuted on the accusing side. They are asking the rest of the lawyers to be part of their campaign.

The lawyers set up an internet site titled “Punish Ağar” (www.agarhesapver.org) for this campaign and started organizing their demand to join the trial at this site.

Ağar’s trial will start at the 3rd High Criminal Court on November 11.

The trial of Ağar became possible when he was not elected a deputy in the July 22 elections and therefore could not keep his immunity from prosecution any longer.

Ağar was the Erzurum Governor in 1992 and had become the Chief of Police in July 1993. He was elected to the Parliament as a True Path Party deputy in 1995. He was the Minister of Justice in 1996 between March and July and the Minister of Interior in 1996 between July and November.

Lawyer Engin Cinmen had told bianet the following about trying Ağar:

“Mehmet Ağar’s immunity was removed twice before and was placed under investigation, but he could not be brought to court since he was a deputy.”

“He was shown to be one of the top people in the Sususluk incident, [one of the major conspiracies against the democratic structure of the Turkish society], by the State Security Court of Istanbul.”

“Since a strong public conviction has formed regarding Ağar’s role as one of the top figures in the Susurluk incident and there are strong documents which back this conviction, we are hoping for a trial process acceptable to the law.” (TK/TB)