ŞIRNAK - After the Nihat Kazanhan case was overturned by the Constitutional Court, the perpetrator, special operations police Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez, for whom an arrest warrant was issued in the re-trial hearing, has not been caught despite the intervening 3 weeks.

 

The case of 12-year-old Nihat Kazanhan, who was shot in the head and murdered by special operations police Mehmet Nurbaki Göçmez in the Cizîr district of Şırnak on January 14, 2015, was overturned after the Constitutional Court (AYM) ruled that his right to life had been violated and started to be heard again. An arrest warrant was issued for the special operations police officer Göçmez, who did not attend the hearing at the Cizre 1st High Criminal Court on February 24, for his arrest.

 

The appeal of Göçmez's lawyers against the decision was also rejected by the upper court; however, despite the passing of 3 weeks, the accused police officer Göçmez has still not been caught.

 

INVESTIGATION FAILED

 

Rojhat Dilsiz, the head of the Şırnak Bar Association, the lawyer of the Kazanhan family, pointed out that the perpetrator was not caught despite the passage of time, and said: “The Kazanhan case is an example of the policy of impunity in the country. The defendant has not yet surrendered. Investigative processes were disrupted and the law enforcement acted jointly in hiding the perpetrators. In fact, we were seeing this self-confidence in some of the defendants and witnesses at a certain time in this file; however, unfortunately, the perpetrator has not been reached in the process. We will be present at the hearing to be held on March 24 and we will continue our struggle so that the accused can receive the punishment he deserves. Since the local court is obligated to comply with this decision of the Constitutional Court, it raises the suspicion of not surrendering, as the accused presumably foresees that he may receive a life sentence. We are following the case, but we have doubts that he may come and surrender after this time. I do not think that the sentence will be reduced and the local court can make a different decision. We think that the perpetrator has received opinions from the necessary authorities.”

 

IF THE PERPETRATORS IS ARRESTED, THE DECISION WILL BE A PRECEDENT

 

Stating that the court, the police and the gendarmerie acted comfortably in the cases where state officials (police, soldiers, village guards, guards) were the perpetrators, Dilsiz said: “We have doubts that the perpetrator may come and surrender because he knows this. There is a hearing on March 24. We will raise these issues at the hearing; however, in the current situation, we think that the current practice of impunity in cases that have committed similar crimes with the return of this file from the Constitutional Court and the perpetrator is law enforcement may set a precedent and it will affect other cases as well."