Court lifts decision allowing LGBT NGO to intervene in trial over murder of homosexual son

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

The Social Policies on Sexual Identity and Orientation Association (SPOD) has been closely following the case since the start of the trial. DHA photo

A Diyarbakır court on Dec. 5 lifted a decision allowing an NGO representing the LGBT community to intervene in a landmark trial of a young homosexual man, killed by his father due to his sexual orientation.
 
The new panel of judges dealing with the case ruled to overturn the decision taken by their predecessors upon a request by the lawyers representing the victims’ mother, who argued that the involvement of the Social Policies on Sexual Identity and Orientation Association (SPOD) was to their detriment.
 
The trial is considered very important for ending impunity in LGBT individuals’ murders. The 17-year-old, identified only as Roşin Ç., is suspected to have been murdered in cold blood by his father, with the complicity from two of his uncles last year. The father, M. Ç., confessed to killing his son when giving his testimony, but presented it as an accident, saying that his gun discharged accidentally. He also rejected that he beat his son, arguing that it was his son who attacked him. His only intention was to “cure” his son, the father told the court.
 
The lawyer representing the SPOD association requested that the court to review the decision on preventing their involvement in the case, arguing that there was no doubt surrounding Rojin Ç.’s sexual orientation. “For this reason, we request that the demands [made by the victim’s family] be rejected and our intervention into the case to continue,” Fırat Söyler said.
 
However, the court stated that the SPOD should not intervene in the case as it was not a party directly damaged by the crimes attributed to the suspects.
 
During the hearing, the father, M.Ç., and the two uncles accused of complicity in murder made a plea for their acquittal. Prosecutors demanded life sentences for all three suspects last May.

Activists expect that such a sentence could set an important precedent for similar hate crimes targeting LGBT individuals, which are usually brushed under the carpet, with perpetrators getting away with light sentences.