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Trial in Turkey over death of prominent Kurdish lawyer postponed

Court proceedings over the 2015 killing of human rights lawyer Tahir Elci were postponed Oct. 21 until March 2021 after defense attorneys requested the recusal of the trial’s judge panel.

Diego Cupolo
Diego Cupolo
Oct 21, 2020
GettyImages-499035652.jpg
Kurdish lawyer and president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association Tahir Elci speaks just moments before he is shot dead, on Nov. 28, 2015, in Diyarbakir. The leading Kurdish lawyer was shot dead in southeast Turkey after unknown attackers opened fire on a gathering in the mainly Kurdish province of Diyarbakir, triggering a shootout with police, hospital sources and witnesses said. Elci died of gunshot wounds to the head, hospital sources told AFP. — ILYAS AKENGIN/AFP via Getty Images)

ISTANBUL – Five years after the death of prominent Kurdish lawyer Tahir Elci, court proceedings began Oct. 21 in which three police officers and one Kurdish militant are charged with killing the former chair of the Diyarbakir Bar Association.

Attorneys for Elci’s family claimed the trial was marked by abnormalities, requesting the judge panel recuse itself for not exhibiting “impartiality” after it rejected all their requests. The judges ruled to send the recusal request to an upper court for examination, postponing the trial until March 3, 2021.

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