DİYARBAKIR - Having prepared a report on Tahir Elçi murder, Forensic Architecture says, “The indictment charges the officers we identified, but also charges a PKK militant, despite our findings showing clearly that he could not be responsible for Elçi’s death.”

 

Forensic Architecture, a research agency based in the University of London which has prepared a detailed report on the killing of Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Tahir Elçi, has criticized the indictment of the trial.

 

Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Tahir Elçi was murdered while making a statement for the press in front of the Four-Legged Minaret in Sur, Diyarbakır on November 28, 2015. The trial over the killing of Elçi started five years after his passing on October 21, 2021.

 

Criticizing the indictment of the case in reference to its own report, Forensic Architecture has tweeted the following messages:

 

"On 3 March, the trial of Tahir Elçi's killing reopens. But there is a problem with the indictment. It charges the officers we identified, but also charges a PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] militant, despite our findings showing clearly that he could not be responsible for Elçi's death.

 

"In his work, Tahir Elçi was a voice for justice. We join with Amnesty International and HRW and many others across the field of human rights in anticipation and expectation of a just and clear-sighted trial."

 

The results of Forensic Architecture’s analysis confirmed with near-certainty that neither of the PKK militants could have fired the shot that killed Elçi. In fact, for much of the time frame during which Elçi was hit, Gürkan was clearly holding his gun by the barrel, and thus unable to shoot. Yakışır does not appear to aim at Elçi at any point during the time frame, and eventually throws his gun at the police.