The second session of the trial for the murder of eight-year-old Narin Güran, found dead in a river last September in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakır, began yesterday with the transfer from pre-trial detention, under tight security, of the four main defendants in the horrific crime: her mother, brother, uncle and a neighbour.
As reported by media and agencies in Turkey, security measures before the Diyarbakır Supreme Criminal Court No. 8 included an extensive police deployment by armed police and gendarmerie officers, as well as the placement of barriers in front of the building and the transfer of the defendants to the courthouse in special heavily guarded vehicles. In addition, all those attending the trial had to undergo an exhaustive search both outside and inside the courtroom.
During the first session of the trial yesterday, the four defendants for whom the prosecution is seeking life imprisonment without parole – the girl’s mother (Yüksel Güran), Narin’s older brother (Enes Güran), the girl’s uncle (Salim Güran) and a neighbour and employee of Salim (Nevzat Bahtiyar, who has confessed to throwing the girl’s body into the Eğertutmaz River) – were present in the courtroom along with their respective lawyers.
Other attendees included Narin’s father, Arif Güran, as well as three persons – one of whom was detained – who appeared as witnesses. Also present were private prosecution lawyers representing the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Affairs and the Diyarbakır Bar Association, as well as Derya Yanık, former Minister of Social Affairs and Chairwoman of the Human Rights Inquiry Commission of the Turkish Parliament, among others in attendance.
‘The Güran family threatened me and beat me’
During yesterday’s session, testimony was heard from R. A., another employee of Salim Güran initially arrested during the investigation for complicity in the murder, but who was subsequently released under judicial control because he is a minor (he is 15 years old); also, part of a recording made the day before Narin’s body was found – on 8 September – showing a meeting between several of the girl’s relatives that took place in the garden of one of her uncles, Erhan Güran, was heard.
One of the witnesses in the video, Ahmet A. (a 33-year-old shepherd from the village of Tavşantepe) told the court that several members of the Güran family called him to attend the meeting, where they apparently threatened him and even beat him if he dared to say anything, insistently asking him if he had seen Enes, the girl’s brother. For his part, the court asked Erhan Güran why he had omitted the presence of Ahmet A. at the meeting, but the girl’s uncle replied that he had ‘forgotten it’ and that ‘we were just having tea’ at the meeting.
‘I didn’t kill the girl, I just got rid of her body’
One of the most eagerly awaited testimonies however is the one that took place earlier today, in which one of the four main defendants, Nevzat Bahtiyar, testified in court, confessing to having thrown the girl’s body into the river himself after threats from her uncle Salim, who he claims threatened him and his family if he did not do so.
‘I didn’t kill Narin, I just moved her. I will accept my sentence, whatever it is. Salim gave me the body with his own hands… He gave it to me and said ‘destroy it, piece by piece.’ And now, they are trying to blame me for everything,’ said Bahtiyar, who the other three defendants – all members of the Narin family – accuse of committing the crime alone.
‘I did not speak (earlier) because my family was not sure,’ explained the defendant, who again reiterated in court the version of events he had already offered to the prosecutor. ‘I had to lie (initially) because my family was not sure. I do not deny that. Your Honour, I gladly accept whatever my sentence is for moving the body, I admit my crime. They (the Güran) have to admit it too. They blame me, but why should I take responsibility for a crime I did not commit?,’ Bahtiyar told the court.
The Narin Güran murder trial began on 7 November, during a first hearing that lasted three days, and then on 26 November the court ordered the trial to be postponed until 26 December, maintaining the pre-trial prison order for the four main defendants. The autopsy of the girl’s body revealed that she was strangled, the main suspect being her uncle Salim, although to date there are only hypothetical scenarios as to why one or more of her relatives decided to end the little girl’s life.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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