Second Narin Güran murder trial begins in Diyarbakır, Türkiye

The second hearing has begun in the trial of four defendants in custody charged with aggravated life imprisonment for the murder of 8-year-old Narin Güran in Diyarbakır, southeastern Turkey.

For the hearing at the 8th High Criminal Court, the detained defendants were brought to the Diyarbakır Courthouse in the Diyarbakır Penitentiary Campus under strict security measures using prison transfer vehicles.

Police barriers were placed in front of Diyarbakır Court as part of security measures. Those present at the hearing were admitted to the courtroom after being searched at two separate points, inside and outside the courthouse.

The defendants in custody, mother Yüksel, brother Enes and uncle Salim Güran, along with Nevzat Bahtiyar, who confessed to hiding Narin’s lifeless body in the Egertutmaz stream, were present at the hearing along with their lawyers.

The hearing began with the identification of witnesses and is recorded by cameras.

Father Arif Güran participated as “complainant”, while one detainee and two other people participated as “witnesses”. Lawyers representing the Ministry of Family and Social Services and the Diyarbakır Bar Association were also present as “complainant institutions”.

In addition, the chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission and the representative of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), MP Osmaniye Derya Yanık, attended the hearing with the deputies of the commission members.

INCIDENT

Narin Güran, who disappeared on August 21 in the Tavşantepe neighborhood of Bağlar District, Diyarbakır, was found dead on September 8 in the Egertutmaz stream.

As part of the investigation carried out by the Diyarbakır General Prosecutor’s Office, 23 suspects were detained. Among them, 12 people, including Narin’s mother Yüksel, brother Enes, uncle Salim Güran and their neighbor Nevzat Bahtiyar, were arrested.

The investigation of Yüksel, Enes and Salim Güran as well as Nevzat Bahtiyar has been completed. An indictment seeking aggravated life imprisonment for the four defendants on the charge of “intentional murder of a child in collaboration” was prepared and accepted by the Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court on 23 October.

The trial began on November 7, and the first hearing lasted three days. On November 26, the court ordered the continued detention of the defendants and adjourned the trial to December 26.

Following the initial hearing, the prosecutor submitted a 14-page opinion to the court between hearings.

For the second hearing, the court ordered the mandatory presentation of Erhan Güran’s uncle and Ahmet A. Shepherd, as well as the transfer from prison of the 15-year-old detained suspect, RA, who is Salim Güran’s uncle’s employee.