STANBUL - Lawyers for Freedom Association will apply to UN and ECHR regarding the people buried underneath the sidewalk in Kilyos Cemetery. Attorney Serhat Çakmak stated that the aim of the attacks against cemeteries is to deprive the society of its memory.
The case about 282 bodies which were exhumed from Garzan Cemetery located in Bitlis being buried beneath a sidewalk in Kiloyos Cemetery located in İstanbul will be carried to United Nation (BM) and European Court of Human Rights (AİHM). A delegation of the Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD), Istanbul Branch, prepared a report after the disclosure made about 261 bodies of the 282 removed from Garzan Cemetery and buried underground on a sidewalk in Istanbul Kilyos Cemetery, demanded that the bodies must be delivered to the families and an investigation to be launched against this unlawful procedure. Continuing its legal initiatives on this issue, ÖHD is preparing to apply to the UN and ECHR this time.
Serhat Çakmak, one of the members of ÖHD stated that the process he defines as a series of unlawfulnesses still continues.
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS HAVE BEEN VIOLATED
Attorney Çakmak said: "The legislation is very clear on this issue. It is not important whether the person is forlorn or not. The procedures of the burial are the same for everyone. The bodies cannot be buried in a row, there must be a distance between the burial grounds and the burial place must be suitable. Of course, although the officials who have given burial orders to Kilyos in this way have legal responsibility, the real loss of rights occurs against the relatives of the dead. The violation of the right to be buried, the torture of the relatives of the dead and the transformation of these practices into torture is an indication that international agreements have also been violated."
Emphasizing that the attacks against cemeteries have wounded people, Çakmak noted that these practices are violations of rights. Çakmak said: "We have followed the process related to the delivery of the bodies until now. We have made criminal complaints regarding the delivery of the bodies and we will do the follow ups as well. After the recent developments, we will apply to several international legal remedies before exhaustion of domestic remedies. We are continuing our work on this matter, and after making the necessary reports and interviews, we will make our applications to these legal remedies. First of all, we are preparing to apply to the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).