Police officer Ahmet Benli lost his life in the police firing against people allegedly involved in "arms smuggling" in Dêrik (Derik) district of Mêrdîn (Mardin) on 9 April 2016. In the meantime, a crowd gathered to help the wounded in a traffic accident in Dêrik Üçyol locality was gunned down by the same police team and Sadettin Özbahçeci lost his life.

 

Two years later, a lawsuit was filed against "arms smuggler" Celal Mercen for the death of police officer Ahmet Benli and police officers Zülfü Demircan, Yaşar Karabay and Seyit Ali Yılmaz for the death of Sadettin Özbahçeci. Celal Mercen is arrested and the accused police officers are on trial without arrest. The 5th Assize Court of Mardin sentenced Celal Mercen to "aggravated life imprisonment" and acquitted the police officers on the charges of "delibrate murder" and "attempted murder".

 

COURT OF APPEAL OVERTURNED THE VERDICT

 

Diyarbakır Regional Court of Appeals, which was appealed, reversed the verdict, demanding the acquittal and release of the defendant police officers on the charge of "causing death with probable intent", on the grounds that the gun from which the bullet that killed Benli did not match with the guns found in Mercen's vehicle.

 

NOT ALL WEAPONS WERE COLLECTED

 

The hearing of the case, which was sent back to Mardin 5th Assize Court by the Court of Appeal, was held again. Sadettin Özbahçeci's family, lawyers and defence lawyers attended the hearing. The hearing started with the reading of the incoming documents and it was stated that some of the weapons allocated to the defendant police officers were sent by Derik District Security Directorate in response to the request for the weapons to be sent for the comparison of the casings collected from the scene of the incident with the weapons allocated to 3 police officers, while one of the weapons is in Ankara.

 

'POLICE ACT ARBITRARILY'

 

The brother İrfan Özbahçeci, who was given the floor afterwards, demanded that the case be concluded as soon as possible. Özbahçeci said: "I complain about the defendants. I want them to be punished as soon as possible. I want the perpetrators of this incident to be punished."   

 

Then Muhlis Oğurgül, the lawyer of Özbahçeci family took the floor. Oğurgül demanded that Tahsin Özbahçeci, the brother of Sadettin Özbahçeci, be accepted as a participant in the case as he is the victim of the crime and asked for a decision as soon as possible. Oğurgül said: "Unfortunately, not much progress has been made so far. Especially Derik Security Directorate is acting very arbitrarily in giving the requested answers to the file. It has been nearly 4 years since the file was reversed and still no conclusion has been reached. Apart from examining the weapons and sending the case to the criminals again, the fact that the case has been dragged on for so long is really a violation of the right to a fair trial. There is a victim, but the defendants are out and even on duty. The defendants must now be punished. At least a measure must be taken."

 

CHIEF JUSTICE: WE ARE ALSO DISTURBED

 

While the prosecution requested the completion of the missing points, the Chief Justice said: "We are also disturbed by the lack of response to the warrants. That they are responded so late. We are writing to the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institution to collect the weapons, but there is no reply. Istanbul is going to send us a weapon, they call us and ask 'how are we going to send it'. We cannot make sense of it. We also see the victimisation. You are right. You want the perpetrator to be identified. But unfortunately we haven't collected all the weapons yet. One of the weapons went to Ankara. It's in the public domain. Now it will come, the gun and the core will be compared. But I want you to know that we are also disturbed."

 

REFUSAL TO ARREST REQUEST

 

The court rejected the request of the brother Özbahçeci to participate in the case and decided to send a letter to the General Directorate of Security and to send the gun, which was found to be in Ankara, to the court for examination, to add to the annex of the letter that if the letter is not responded within 10 days, action will be taken against those responsible on the charge of "misconduct in office", and that if the gun is sent, it will be sent to Diyarbakır Criminal Police Laboratory to be examined together with the guns in custody.

 

The court rejected the request for an injunction against the defendant police officers and adjourned the next hearing to 16 May 2025.

 

MA / Ahmet Kanbal