Family had applied to the court: Court rejects request for retrial in Yılmaz Güney case

The request by the family of director, actor, and screenwriter Yılmaz Güney for a retrial of the case at the Ankara 1st High Criminal Court, in which Güney was sentenced to 18 years for killing Judge Sefa Mutlu, and the request for Judge Sefa Mutlu's grave to be opened for an autopsy, have been rejected by the court.

Yılmaz Güney's family had applied to the Ankara 1st High Criminal Court through their lawyer, Bişar Abdi Alınak. The petition had requested a retrial and for Judge Sefa Mutlu's grave to be opened for an autopsy.

EMPHASIS ON 'CHARACTER ASSASSINATION'

The application text stated that Yılmaz Güney had been portrayed as a judge-killer based on the 1976 conviction, and that he had been subjected to 'character assassination' in this way.

STATED THAT IT WOULD NOT ADD ANYTHING NEW TO THE FILE

Sözcü columnist İsmail Saymaz wrote that the Ankara 1st High Criminal Court had turned down the request of Yılmaz Güney's family.

According to what Saymaz reported, the decision stated that 50 years had passed since the incident, all judicial processes had been completed, and that opening the grave would not add anything new to the file.

It was stated that Güney had fired the weapon intentionally and that the conditions for legitimate self-defense had not been met.

The family will appeal this decision.

WHAT HAD HAPPENED?

Yılmaz Güney was sentenced to 19 years of heavy imprisonment for killing Judge Sefa Mutlu in the Yumurtalık district of Adana, where he had gone for the filming of the movie "Endişe" (The Anxiety) on September 13, 1974.

Güney, who was sent to the Isparta Semi-Open Prison to complete his sentence, left the prison on leave on October 9, 1981.

He went to France and was never able to return. Stripped of his citizenship in 1982, Güney passed away in 1984 due to cancer.