19 unsolved murders become history

The Court of Cassation has upheld the acquittal and statute of limitations decisions in the case involving 18 defendants, including former minister Mehmet Ağar, who were accused of committing 19 unsolved murders between 1993 and 1996. With this ruling, the long-running case against Ağar, Korkut Eken, İbrahim Şahin, and former special operations police officers has reached a final verdict.

According to a report by T24, in the case that went down in history as the “unsolved murders trial” and sparked major controversy, particularly during the revelations of organized crime leader Sedat Peker, the Ankara 1st High Criminal Court had initially ruled for the acquittal of the defendants, a decision that was later overturned by the appellate court. Following a second trial, the local court again issued an acquittal. The Ankara Regional Court of Justice 1st Criminal Chamber (appellate) completed its review of the second acquittal decision and this time found the acquittal to be appropriate. While the court ruled that the files regarding the murders of Behçet Cantürk and Abdülmecit Baskın had reached the statute of limitations, it stated that the acquittal decision for the other murders was appropriate.

BECAME HISTORY

The 1st Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation completed its appellate review of these decisions. Stating that a statute of limitations decision should have been issued for some of the murders, the chamber corrected this part of the file and upheld it, not considering this a reason for reversal.

In its unanimous decision, the chamber found the acquittal rulings appropriate based on the following reasoning:

“It is understood that the procedures during the trial process were carried out in accordance with procedure and law, that the claims and defenses put forward at various stages were shown and discussed in the reasoned decision along with the evidence collected and deemed sufficient according to the scope of the file, that the evidence relied upon for the verdict and the evidence rejected were clearly indicated, that there was no incomplete investigation as the evidence was collected during the investigation and prosecution stages, that the reports relied upon for the verdict were sufficient, and considering that there was no other evidence other than hearsay, abstract and contradictory statements that could not be supported by evidence, and documents that did not qualify as evidence, it is understood that there is no inaccuracy in the court's belief and discretion formed in accordance with the results of the trial, and in the acquittal decisions issued for the charged crimes by evaluating the doubt in favor of the defendants, as there was no definitive and convincing evidence beyond any doubt that the defendants committed the crimes charged against them, and thus no illegality was found in the examination of the appeal grounds.”

News Source: 12punto