FESTUS OKEY TRIAL

A group of lawyers filed a criminal complaint on behalf of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD) about the court board of the Beyoğlu 4th High Criminal Court that handles the case of killed Nigerian refugee Festus Okey. The complaint was submitted the Beyoğlu Public Prosecutor to be forwarded to the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK).

Okey was shot in the Beyoğlu (central Istanbul) Police Center on 20 August 2007.

A group of members of the ÇHD and the Immigrant Solidarity Network gathered in front of the Beyoğlu Courthouse and protested against the handling of the Festus Okey trial.

"Not the perpetrators but the rights defenders are being prosecuted"

Lawyer Hüseyin Boğatekin read out a press release on behalf of the group. He said that the court board forgot about the perpetrators and the action on trial and therefore about the fact that they are defendants tried on charges of murder. Instead, they started to prosecute the human rights defenders who are seeking justice, Boğatekin criticized.

He recalled that the police officers were taken to court in an official car by the then Chief of Police of the Beyoğlu District when they had to appear at court for the first time after Okey's death in 2007. The lawyer continued:

"The suspected police officer was not taken into police custody for a single day and he was not suspended from duty. The most important evidence to determine the shooting distance was the victim's t-shirt. Yet, the t-shirt was lost in hospital, but procedures were dropped against the persons who lost it".

"Trial did not move an inch in the past three years"

Boğatekin said that the court did not touch upon any crucial issues regarding the essence of the case. "The court is stuck with trying to determine whether the victim's name really is Festus Okey. This investigation will highly probably not yield any results because of the chaos in Nigeria and a social structure that is based on tribes. The trial has not moved an inch during the past three years because of this investigation".

Boğatekin pointed out that the lawlessness experienced during the trial has increased lately.

"The court dismissed the requests of human rights defenders for joint plaintiff status. After that, the court filed a criminal complaint about the people who applied for joint plaintiffship by reason of 'attempting to influence a fair trial and insulting the court'.  Until today, the court filed complaints about approximately 40 people, including Güray Dağ and Süleyman Gökten, members of our steering board".