The first hearing was held yesterday in the school attack in Kahramanmaraş, which shook Türkiye deeply. In the attack carried out by İsa Aras Mersinli at Ayşe Çalık Secondary School with 5 guns and 7 magazines belonging to his father, Uğur Mersinli, on April 15, a teacher and 9 students lost their lives and 15 students were injured. The attacker, from Mersin, was neutralized with a knife by Necmettin Bekçi, who heard the gunshots and entered the school. Following the incident, Mersinli's father, police chief inspector Uğur Mersinli, and his mother, teacher Peyman Pınar Mersinli, were arrested.
THEY APPEARED IN FRONT OF A JUDGE FOR THE FIRST TIME
Uğur Mersinli, who is facing 10 life sentences for 'killing with possible intent' and up to 30 years in prison for 'injuring with possible intent', and mother Peyman Pınar Mersinli, who is facing up to 22.5 years in prison for 'causing the death and injury of more than one person through conscious negligence', appeared before the judge for the first time yesterday.
'I FEEL I WAS DECEIVED'
Uğur Mersinli's defense at the hearing shocked everyone. Rejecting the accusations, the father from Mersinli said: "There is no mercy. The approach that parents should be punished and set an example is extremely wrong. The perpetrator of the crime of intentional murder and intentional wounding in the Turkish Penal Code is İsa Aras Mersinli. In the indictment, it was stated that the perpetrator was İsa Aras Mersinli at least 90 times and no lawsuit was filed against him. A lawsuit should also be filed against İsa Aras Mersinli for the crime of intentional murder, intentional injury and theft. Because he stole my guns, I am from Mersinli. I also have a complaint against him. My son took the guns from me without my permission and consent.
I am held responsible because I am a law enforcement officer and carry a gun. I want to know why public officials who saw and predicted that İsa Aras would attack a school did not share this information with the family. İsa Aras prepared his manifesto in advance. I took him to the range for his love of guns, I feel like I was deceived. "If I knew about the school attack plan, I wouldn't have taken this shot."
On the other hand, Ramazan Kara, husband of mathematics teacher Ayla Kara, who lost his life in the attack, claimed that the canteen clerk knew that there would be an attack at the school and that the school principal was warned about it, and said, "That canteen clerk knows that there will be an attack and does not call his relatives, saying, 'There will be an attack at the school. Take your child from school.'
MOTHER: I'M SORRY FOR EVERYONE
At the hearing, mother Peyman Pınar Mersinli also did not accept the accusations. Mersinli, who defended herself by crying, said, "I would like to start by expressing my condolences, but I don't know what to say since you see me as the mother of a murderer." I know neither the number of weapons nor their shapes. I'm so sorry for everyone. I always asked my friends at school and my neighbor across the street about psychologists. As long as I wanted to take it. I've never liked guns. I was angry when he took him to the range, but my wife said that his son was interested in guns and that he took him to the range so that he would not harm himself or others. "If I had known, I wouldn't have allowed it."
MISTAKEN FOR A CARTOON
Stating that he sees the computer games his son plays as normal games, Uğur Mersinli stated that he thought the US attacker Elliot Rodger in his WhatsApp profile was a cartoon character.
REACTION FROM FAMILIES
Relatives of those who lost their lives in the attack, those who were injured and their families, and lawyers attended the first hearing of the case at Kahramanmaraş 3rd High Criminal Court. Spokesperson of the School Research Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and AK Party Istanbul Deputy İsa Messi Şahin, Commission Member and AK Party Kahramanmaraş Deputy İrfan Karatutlu and General Director of Legal Services of the Ministry of National Education Emir Hasan Arslantaş also attended the hearing. Uğur Mersinli and Peyman Pınar Mersinli were connected to the hearing via SEGBİS from the prison where they were detained. The hearing started with Uğur Mersinli's defense. Mersinli started his defense by saying, "My condolences to our families and our nation." These words of Mersinli were met with reaction by the families in the hall. Families said, "Give a speech to us. "We are not going to say God bless everyone who expresses our condolences," he said.
MOTHER WAS RELEASED
After hearing the witnesses, the public prosecutor requested a decision to continue the detention of the defendants. At the end of the 16-hour hearing, the court panel unanimously decided to continue the detention of the father, Uğur Mersinli, and to release the mother, Peyman Pınar Mersinli, by majority vote, and postponed the case to December 4.
'WE WILL APPEAL THIS DECISION'
Making a statement on behalf of the families, lawyer Özcan Kara stated that they would object to the release decision and request a recusal judge and said:
"Unfortunately, Kahramanmaraş 3rd High Criminal Court violated its impartiality and right to a fair trial here and decided to release the murderer's mother, Peyman Pınar Mersinli, by majority vote. This decision will be immediately objected by the Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor's Office at our request. We will request recusal for the member judges, except for the opposing member judge. We think that they have lost their impartiality. It is a legal scandal to release someone who has caused such a chain of negligence at this stage. Tensip one month ago "While the same president had given an opinion on the continuation of his detention in the memorandum, what changed after a month? In this trial, even more negligence was revealed, including the mother's negligence. In this chain of negligence, this release decision is a legal scandal. We will appeal to the Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor's Office tomorrow and request the arrest of Peyman Pınar Mersinli."
