Critical development in the Narin Güran case! New lawsuit against 15 individuals.

18.02.2025 07:40

An important development has occurred in the Narin Güran murder case. In the newly prepared indictments, 15 suspects are facing prison sentences for the crime of 'aiding and abetting a criminal.' The plans made by the suspects to obstruct the investigation into the murder have been detailed extensively.

On August 21, 2024, in the Tavşantepe neighborhood of the Bağlar district in central Diyarbakır, an investigation conducted by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the murder of 8-year-old Narin Güran, who went missing and was found dead in the Eğertutmaz Stream on September 8, 2024, has been completed concerning 15 suspects, 6 of whom are in custody.

UP TO 5 YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT SOUGHT

One of the two separate indictments prepared by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office was submitted to the Diyarbakır 17th Criminal Court of First Instance, while the indictment regarding 3 suspects under the age of 18 was submitted to the 2nd Juvenile Court. The indictments seek prison sentences ranging from 6 months to 5 years for 15 suspects, including 6 in custody and 3 children, for the crime of "aiding a criminal." Additionally, it was decided to release 16-year-old R. A., who is the worker of detained suspects Hediye Güran and uncle Salim Güran.

NARIN'S CLOSE RELATIVES RECEIVED LIFE SENTENCES

In the Narin Güran murder case, the court panel unanimously decided during the hearing on December 28, 2024, to impose aggravated life sentences on the detained defendants, mother Yüksel, brother Enes, and uncle Salim Güran, for "intentional murder of a child in complicity." It was also decided to sentence Nevzat Bahtiyar, who confessed to hiding Narin's lifeless body in the Eğertutmaz Stream, to 4 years and 6 months in prison for "destroying, concealing, or altering evidence" and to continue their detention.

NEW INDICTMENT IN THE MURDER CASE

The indictment prepared by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the detained suspects Birsen, Fuat, Maşallah Güran, Salim Güran's worker Mehmet Selim Atasoy, and Mehmet Şevket Kaya and Muhammed Kaya, as well as the non-detained suspects Şeyma Kaya, Hediye, İbrahim Halil, Barış, Kurtuluş, and Ömer Faruk Güran, was submitted to the Diyarbakır 17th Criminal Court of First Instance, while the indictment regarding the juvenile suspects R. A. and İ. K. was submitted to the 2nd Juvenile Court.

The indictment states that the first official report regarding Narin Güran's disappearance was made by her brother Baran Güran by calling the 112 Emergency Call Center around 20:43 on August 21, and that following this, expert law enforcement agencies conducted intensive search activities in the Tavşantepe neighborhood and its surroundings for Narin Güran as a "missing child case."

"THE FIRE WAS ORGANIZED TO PREVENT NARIN FROM BEING FOUND"

On August 22, while the search efforts were ongoing, it was noted in the indictment that Narin Güran's cousin, Muhammed Kaya, stated that he found a red children's slipper near the tents where Syrians were staying but forgot to inform the law enforcement agencies. The indictment included the following:

"It was determined that the slipper was later shown to family members by Osman Güran, who got into Kaya's vehicle, and that law enforcement agencies were informed. Family members claimed that the slipper belonged to Narin Güran without even asking for its size. The investigation was directed towards individuals living in tents who maintain their daily lives through work and Syrian individuals. Despite the windless weather in the Tavşantepe neighborhood, a fire occurred due to the contact of electric wires, and it was evaluated that the fire was organized to affect the search efforts and prevent Narin Güran from being found, as there were members of the Güran family present at the location of the fire. Considering the weather conditions, it was deemed impossible for the fire to have occurred without external intervention. During the fieldwork of the law enforcement agencies, numerous contradictory statements regarding the time Narin Güran went missing and was last seen were found in the statements of family members, and based on the developments reported to our Chief Public Prosecutor's Office by the gendarmerie, instructions were given to investigate the incident as a potential murder committed by the family rather than a missing child case, and efforts were expanded in this direction. In this context, judicial searches were initiated at many identified addresses, and investigation procedures were intensified."

DETENTION WILL CONTINUE

The indictment reminded that as a result of the trial held at the Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court in the Narin Güran murder case, it was decided to impose aggravated life sentences on the detained defendants mother Yüksel, brother Enes, and uncle Salim Güran for "intentional murder of a child in complicity," and to sentence Nevzat Bahtiyar, who confessed to hiding Narin's lifeless body in the Eğertutmaz Stream, to 4 years and 6 months in prison for "destroying, concealing, or altering evidence," and to continue their detention.

"EVIDENCE DISAPPEARED DUE TO DECAY"

The indictment recorded the following:

"Considering the statements taken and the evidence collected in the file, it was noted that the suspects who claimed to have seen Narin after the probable time of death specified different times in their statements, indicating that they were aware of each other's statements. When their statements were examined, the times mentioned were different and not in a chronological order. However, it was determined that they had no possibility of seeing Narin during the time they claimed to have seen her, indicating that the suspects acted in a planned manner within a certain organization and, with a premeditated decision, aimed to disrupt, complicate, and prevent the emergence of suspects by focusing the search efforts on the time period after the time they provided. Their actions led to the delayed discovery of Narin's lifeless body and consequently resulted in the decay of evidence that could have been obtained from the body."

The indictment stated that the statements given by the suspects were contradictory and inconsistent, and did not match the material evidence clarified during the trial.

"INVESTIGATIONS WERE CLEARLY OBSTRUCTED"

In the evaluation and conclusion section of the indictment, the following was stated:

"The insistence of the suspects to provide the same statements is contrary to the ordinary course of life. It was understood that the gendarmerie personnel were continuously followed and listened to in an attempt to obstruct the investigations, that some individuals caused a fire with sticks they had, that some attempted to change the course of events with the slipper they claimed to have found, and that some organized individuals deleted phone records to obstruct the identification of the actual perpetrator or perpetrators."

In the investigations that began as missing persons cases, due to such statements and actions, the investigations have been directed to different channels, and it has been clearly prevented to conduct investigations regarding the murder act and those who committed the act. It has been understood that the suspects acted with a common motive by allowing those who committed crimes to escape from the investigation by providing false statements, as stated in the minutes, by starting a fire, following and listening to the gendarmerie personnel, and deleting phone records, thus committing the crime of 'aiding a criminal' attributed to them, and sufficient suspicion has been obtained in this regard. It is requested that the suspects, against whom sufficient evidence has been obtained, be tried by your court and punished separately for the crime corresponding to their actions, and in the event that they are sentenced to a custodial sentence due to the intentional nature of the crime they have committed, it is requested that they be deprived of certain rights in accordance with Article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237.

"CONTRADICTORY AND INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS"

In the conclusion section of the indictment submitted to the Juvenile Court, the following evaluation was made:

"The statements given by the children who were led to commit the crime are contradictory and inconsistent among themselves, and they contradict the material evidence that has been clarified in the trial. Nevertheless, their insistence on making the same statements is contrary to the ordinary course of life. In the investigations that began as missing persons cases, due to such statements, the investigations have been directed to different channels, and it has been clearly prevented to conduct investigations regarding the murder act and those who committed the act. In this way, it has been understood that the children who were led to commit the crime have committed the crime of 'aiding a criminal' by allowing those who committed crimes to escape from the investigation with their false statements, and sufficient suspicion has been obtained in this regard."