Court ignores hate crime despite confession  

2021-09-17 11:11:02


	MARDİN - In the indictment prepared for the injury of Çetin Doğan, who was subjected to a racist attack by a group of soldiers during his military service in Edirne, the fact that it was a "hate crime" was ignored despite the confession of the accused.

	The investigation initiated upon the complaint of Private Çetin Doğan (20), who was attacked by a group of soldiers for defending education in mother tongue (Kurdish) while he was doing his compulsory military service at the 54th Mechanized Infantry Brigade Command in Edirne's Süloğlu district, has been completed on 15 August. The attack suffered by Doğan, who was battered with the butt of a long-barreled gun, was evaluated within the scope of the accusation of "deliberate injury".

	 

	 

	In the indictment accepted by the Edirne 3rd Criminal Court of First Instance, the fact that the attack was a hate crime was ignored despite the statement of the attacker who said, "I got angry because of his political statements and hit him in the face with a gun". And despite the fact that a number of soldiers were involved in the racist attack, Uğur Can Y. is the only one included in the file as a defendant.

	 

	Stating that his client is still having problems due to the attack, Attorney Soner Kurt told that the case should have been considered within the scope of hate crimes. Expressing that the accusation and the trial are incomplete in its current state, Kurt said, “Even the defendant says very clearly in his statement that there was a political conversation between him and my client, and that he attacked my client because he was angry about his political statements. He clearly admits committing a hate crime. While the defendant confessed to have committed a hate crime, the court considers this a simple attack. We will continue to express this at every stage of this trial. We will reveal that this attack was a racist attack on the Kurds and the Kurdish language."

	 

	 

	MA / Ahmet Kanbal