Prison "Forgot" about Prime Suspect's Sanity Report

Negligence of the prison administration made any progress impossible at the third hearing related to the murder of Ayşe Paşalı. After having been threatened and treated violently several times, Paşalı was killed by her divorced husband İstikbal Yetkin the middle of the day on a public street. It turned out at the Tuesday hearing (1 March) that Yetkin had not been taken from prison to the Ankara Forensic Medicine Institute to obtain a report on his sanity.

The Ankara 1^st High Criminal Court decided at the previous hearing to have Yetkin transferred to the Ankara Forensic Medicine Institute in order to investigate his sanity. The court now decided to send Yetkin to the Ankara Forensic Medicine Institution on 9 March.

The Tuesday hearing was attended by defendant İstikbal Yetkin and his lawyer Fethi Öztürk besides the parents of the victim, Hüseyin and Zeliha Paşalı, their son Ahmet, their lawyer Elif Kabadayı Tatar and members of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD) who applied for co-plaintiff status.

Many journalists observed the hearing, among them also several press members from abroad. Moreover, the session was followed by some Members of Parliament from the Republican People's Party (CHP) and their wives.

"Competition between women rights and rights of the defendant"

Lawyer and ÇHD member Pınar Yetkin read out the petition for co-plaintiff status. "The aims of the association are also the elimination of inequality against women in any area and the struggle against women murders that have become systematic in this country", she reasoned the request.

Defence lawyer Öztürk indicated that 'the right to defence in a murder case was tried to be made to compete with women rights'. He claimed that "it is in fact the rights of the defendant that should be protected and considered in a trial". Öztürk demanded to reject the request for joint plaintiff status according to Article 237 of the Criminal Procedure Law (CMK) ("intervening the public claim").

The court decided to dismiss the ÇHD's request for co-plaintiff status because the association "did not suffer direct harm from the offence".

Dumrul: Procedures are being prolonged in favour of the defendant

Lawyer Candan Dumrul, member of the Women Solidarity Foundation, observed the hearing as well. She commented, "The statements of Ayşe Paşalı's daughters and siblings as eye-witnesses and also Yetkin's first statement, his behaviour at and attitude towards the court all imply that this murder was being planned. Only at the last hearing he said that he was hearing voices and that he was carrying a knife in order to get rid of those voices. This is a method very frequently used by murderers tried in cases related to women murders as an attempt to escape punishment".

Aggravated life sentence

The indictment seeks an aggravated life sentence for defendant Yetkin on charges of "premeditated murder" according to Article 882 of the Turkish Criminal Law (TCK). Yetkin stabbed his divorced wife Ayşe Paşalı to death on 7 December 2010 in the middle of a public street. Paşalı was 42 years old and the mother of two daughters.

Members of Şefkat-Der, the 'Compassion Association', carried out a protest action against violence against women in front of the courthouse. The women, advocating for the resistance against violence, had covered their heads and faces with purple scarves. (EG/EÖ/BB)