Turkish appeals court upholds acquittals of police officers in Tahir Elçi case

Osman Çaklı / DUVAR

A Diyarbakır appeals court has upheld a lower court’s acquittal decision for three police officers in the case of bar head Tahir Elçi’s death.

Diyarbakır 10th High Criminal Court previously acquitted the officers Sinan Tabur, Fuat Tan and Mesut Sevgi on the charge of “causing death by conscious negligence” in July 2024

Tahir Elçi, who was then head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, was killed in broad daylight on Nov. 28, 2015, while speaking to the media to call for an end to the ongoing conflict between Turkish security forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Elçi’s press conference was interrupted when two alleged members of the PKK ran through the scene, moments after they had shot and killed two police officers nearby.

Police who had been at the press conference opened fire as the pair ran past, and several shots were fired. During the commotion, Elçi was shot from the back of his head and died at the scene.

An appeals court unanimously upheld the acquittal decisions of the Diyarbakır 10th High Criminal Court. 

The court said, “There is no procedural or substantive illegality in the decision or reasoning of the first instance court, there is no deficiency in the evidence or procedures obtained in accordance with the law, and the hearings were held in accordance with the procedure.”

The acquittal verdicts “are in accordance with the images, expert reports, witness statements, and that there are no unlawful aspects in the verdict explained with a detailed justification,” it added.

The lawyers will appeal to the Constitutional Court. 

A frame-by-frame analysis of the moment of the camera footage by the Forensic Architecture research agency found that the three officers were the most likely suspects, ruling out the possibility of alleged PKK members shooting at Elçi. 

The officers were included in the case as defendants after the report and were accused of “causing death by conscious negligence.”  

However, an expert report by the state-run Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) alleged that the security video footage was doctored, demanding its dismissal as evidence.

The prosecutor’s office requested the police officer defendants’ acquittal because "it was impossible to determine which police officer's bullet caused the death."

(English version by Alperen Şen)

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