Although 3 years and 7 months have passed since the February 6, 2023 earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, an indictment has not yet been prepared in many cases.
In the investigation regarding the Arı Apartment in the District Governor Hasan Tütün District of Adıyaman's Besni district, the report prepared by the Besni Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in June was sent to the Adıyaman Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, and the suspects Şükrü İşitmen and Memet Nuri Tuğsuz were accused of "causing death by negligence".
According to the information obtained by the ANKA News Agency reporter, Adıyaman Chief Public Prosecutor's Office gave a "decision of lack of authority" in the file to correct the deficiencies and sent the investigation documents to the Besni Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
THE STATEMENT OF THE SUSPICIOUS HEARER WAS NOT TAKEN, THE REPORTS OF THE INJURED CLIENTS ARE NOT IN THE FILE.
The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office determined that the statement of Şükrü İşitmen, one of the suspects in the case, was not taken, that no action was taken to take a statement, and that İşitmen's identity information was not included in the report and his name was only manually stated as "Şükrü İşitmen".
The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, which found that there were no definitive medical reports and necessary evaluations regarding the injured complainants in the file, stated that the clear identity information of the injured should be determined, all their earthquake-related treatment histories should be obtained, final reports should be taken and their statements regarding the injuries should be taken.
IT WAS REQUESTED TO CORRECT THE DEFINITION OF CRIME IN FEZLE
It was noted that some of the people whose statements were included as complainants within the scope of the file testified about another collapsed building, and in the letter of the Besni District Police Department dated September 22, 2023, documents related to another building were included in the file and that these may cause confusion in the investigation.
The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office pointed out that although the crime should have been stated as "negligently causing death and injury to more than one person", it was written as "negligently causing death" and that this issue should be corrected.
An evaluation was also made about public official Memet Nuri Tuğsuz in the file. The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office stated that Tuğsuz was sent with a report after his statement was taken as a suspect, and that the result of the investigation permission requested against him should be awaited on the grounds that a trial cannot be held twice for the same action.
INVESTIGATION PERMISSION WAS GRANTED TO 3 PUBLIC OFFICIALS
The 1st Chamber of the Council of State rejected the objection made by former Besni Mayor Memet Nuri Tuğsuz, the then Director of Civil Works Memet Yıldırım and civil engineer Ekrem Lenger, to whom the Ministry of Internal Affairs gave permission for an investigation regarding the Arı Apartment investigation. The department decided to send the file to the Adıyaman Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for necessary action.
"DEFICIENCIES MUST BE FIXED"
Abdurrahman Özdoğan, one of the complainant's lawyers, evaluated the process as follows:
"The decision in question does not mean that the investigation has been closed or that a decision has been made to acquit the suspects. The decision is only a procedural decision that envisages sending the file to the competent Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and correcting the identified deficiencies. The findings emphasized in the decision are important in terms of conducting the investigation in a complete and auditable manner, suitable for revealing the material truth. After the file is transferred to the Besni Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, we expect the deficiencies specified in the decision to be eliminated and all evidence to be evaluated together. "We demand that the relatives' expectations of justice be met, that the damages and rights of the injured be fully disclosed, and that legal action be taken immediately against everyone who is responsible."
