An appeals court in Turkey has upheld the acquittal of three police officers charged in connection with the 2015 killing of Tahir Elçi, the former president of the Diyarbakır Bar Association. The court rejected the appeals filed by Elçi’s family, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, and the Diyarbakır Bar Association, ruling that the lower court's decision was legally sound.
Deniz Tekin
The Diyarbakır 10th High Criminal Court had acquitted police officers Sinan Tabur, Fuat Tan, and Mesut Sevgi on June 12, 2024. They had been on trial for "causing death by conscious negligence" in connection with Elçi’s killing. In its ruling, the court stated that there was uncertainty over who had fired the fatal shot that killed Elçi.
Following the acquittal, Elçi’s wife Türkan Elçi, his brothers Ömer and Mehmet Elçi, along with the Union of Turkish Bar Associations and the Diyarbakır Bar Association, appealed the verdict to the Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice. However, the 10th Criminal Chamber of the appeals court dismissed the appeal on substantive grounds.
In its reasoning, the court cited procedural issues, noting that the police officers were public officials and should not have been prosecuted without prior authorization under Law No. 4483, which regulates the prosecution of public officials. The court stated that the failure to obtain this authorization was not raised as a ground for appeal but nonetheless reaffirmed the acquittal.
The ruling also concluded that there were no procedural or legal violations in the trial process, and that evidence—including surveillance footage, expert reports, witness testimonies, and official records—supported the acquittal. The court found that the lower court’s decision was well-reasoned and did not violate legal procedures.
Under Turkey’s Criminal Procedure Code, cases involving negligence-based offenses with sentences under five years are not eligible for appeal to the Court of Cassation. As a result, the acquittal of the police officers in the Tahir Elçi case is now final.
Elçi, a prominent human rights lawyer, was fatally shot on Nov. 28, 2015, during a press statement in Diyarbakır, a predominantly Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey. His killing sparked outrage and demands for justice, but the case has been marred by controversy and allegations of a cover-up.
