Appeals court upholds sentence for defense attorney in Ceren Damar murder case: Grieving father speaks to 12punto

Ayhan TAŞPINARLIOĞLU-12punto.com.tr

Ceren Damar, who worked as a Research Assistant at Çankaya University Faculty of Law in Ankara, was murdered by Hasan İsmail Hikmet.

The statements made by defense attorney Vahit Bıçak had sparked public outrage, particularly among bar associations.

The 1 year, 5 months, and 15 days prison sentence handed down by the court in the case filed against Bıçak was upheld by the appeals court.

Grieving father Mustafa Damar evaluated the decision for 12punto.com.tr.

In response to the question of whether he found the decision sufficient, Damar said the following:

"HE MADE BASELESS SLANDERS"

"First of all, I would like to mention a couple of points regarding the trial. I filed a complaint in June 2020, and I filed a complaint regarding the crimes he committed before this date. What does this mean? The trial has been ongoing for over 4 years. We have continued our search for justice for 4 years. The court of first instance handed down the sentence. Following that, there was an 8-9 month appeal process, and the appeals court upheld the sentence.

The first point is this; the sentence is not sufficient for us or for society. Why is it not sufficient? He made insults directed at the memory of my late daughter. He made baseless, evidence-free, unsubstantiated slanders. He did this knowingly, willingly, and intentionally, solely to turn the file and the case in his favor. He did this without having any evidence or any witnesses. He did this by relying on his robe and his profession as a lawyer. These were done in front of dozens of people during the hearing phase."

"THE SENTENCE GIVEN SATISFIED NEITHER US NOR THE PUBLIC CONSCIENCE"

"The insults directed at my daughter were not enough; he damaged the honor of my family. That was not enough; he threatened us. He tried to apply pressure, to silence us, and to prevent our search for justice. Therefore, when we list the crimes, he applied everything: insults to my daughter and my family, damaging the honor of my family, threats, pressure, and psychological violence. Therefore, the sentence given satisfied neither us nor the public conscience. The fact that these crimes are being committed so widely today is already due to the insufficiency of the sentences."

"IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR US TO REFORM VAHIT BIÇAK, BUT..."

"The sentence did not ease the public conscience, but I think it is an important sentence to prevent such 'Vahit Bıçaks' from emerging from now on, even if it is a symbolic sentence.

If this sentence had not been given, this would have become a path. Everyone would have used this path. By making slanders without having evidence, they would have said, 'I am doing my job as a lawyer.'

This has been blocked. It is not possible for us to reform Vahit Bıçak, but the Vahit Bıçaks who will appear from now on will learn a lesson from this sentence and will not try this path and method."

Father Damar also said the following in a post he shared on X:

"WITH THE KILLER HE IDENTIFIED WITH..."

"The appeals court upheld the prison sentence of lawyer Prof. Dr. Vahit Bıçak, who wrote and acted out a slander scenario. He will spend his 1 year, 5 months, and 15 days prison sentence in his cell before entering the grave. Perhaps, with the killer he identified with..."