Van (Wan) Bar Association issued a statement to correct the misleading information given to the public regarding Rojin Kabaiş, a student at Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYU) who went missing in Van on 27 September and whose body was found 18 days later.
Bar Association President Sinan Özaraz, Van Bar Association Women’s Rights Center, Freedom for Lawyers Association (ÖHD) members and many lawyers attended the press conference.
‘There were many negligences’
Bar Association President Özaraz touched upon what happened since Rojin Kabaiş disappeared. He said that they have been following the file since the first day, and added: “Some of the negligences are the dormitory staff’s late notification of the family and law enforcement, and the late notification of the family. The prosecutor’s office’s failure to effectively control the entrances and exits to the university, and the failure to take strict security measures, especially for the village area next to the university, were also serious deficiencies. We always told the prosecutor’s office that it needed to make up for these deficiencies as soon as possible and that a file, like the Gülistan Doku file, would emerge as the process progressed. However, the prosecutor’s office continued to follow the file, keeping us out of it and giving answers such as ‘we are doing what is necessary.'”
Özaraz stated that Rojin Kabaiş’s lifeless body was found by one person, and emphasized that the ministry provided false information that Rojin Kabaiş was found by law enforcement officers. Özaraz said: “We, as civil society organizations, Wan Bar Association and Women’s Rights Center, wanted to follow the forensic medicine process (ATK). The prosecutor’s office tried to keep us out of the ATK process. Although we told him that we, as a bar association, had the right to have a representative at the ATK, and that we could have a lawyer and a specialist doctor in the field, our request was rejected by the prosecutor’s office.”
