The detention of the nine suspects in connection with the shipwreck on August 30 has been extended for another 7 days, while the “police” reported to the “district court” in Kyrenia that the VDR (Voyage Data Recorder) data had been examined over a period of 59 days and that another 9 days were needed to complete the examination. They also secured approximately 2,000 pages of documents from Türk Loydu, the company that certified the unsuitability of the sunken ship.
As was also reported in “court,” search and rescue operations are continuing, while the “security forces command” is conducting flights twice a week, both day and night, “police” teams are also continuing their searches along the coast daily to locate the last missing person (SS: a three-year-old girl).
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The “police” reported that, according to the response received from Türk Loydu, the responsibilities of the ship’s officers will be examined. Once the crew’s duties have been determined and their international certifications reviewed, it will be clarified for which offenses the suspects could be held responsible.
It was noted that the documents received by the ship’s crew will be examined in light of the relevant conventions, and the existing documents will be compared with the events that took place and the statements that were taken. It was noted that, following these reviews, the crew’s duties and responsibilities will be assessed, and the charges against the suspects will be formulated accordingly.
The defense attorney argued that during the preliminary investigation, which has been ongoing for 11 sessions, the investigations were not conducted by the necessary experts. Arguing that the investigation conducted so far has not revealed the cause of the ship’s sinking, the attorney stated that the certificates and class approval documents issued by Türk Loydu were handed over to the “police” at the start of the investigation but were not examined.
The defense attorney noted that there is a report indicating the cause of the ship’s sinking, but that report was not examined either. All seafarers hold a seaman’s certificate, and the crew possessed the appropriate qualifications to perform their duties, he added.
He also claimed that on June 27, a representative from the “ports department” conducted an inspection of the ship. He further maintained that on August 30, the VDR was operational and stated that the lieutenant reported the device was functioning and informed the entire crew accordingly.
Meanwhile, the online publication Ozgür, in an article titled “They gave me another man’s body, saying it was my son,” reports that Gokmen Gionul, the father of 20-year-old student Ozgür Gionul, who drowned in the shipwreck on August 30 and whose body was found 35 days after the tragedy, on October 4, has returned to Cyprus because the body handed over to him by the authorities of the pseudo-state does not belong to his son. It should be noted that the burial took place in Mersin.
Gionul explained to Ozgur that during the body identification process, due to the severe decomposition of the body, the families had been advised not to look, but he himself wanted to look and saw certain parts that were intact. Since facial identification was not possible and he had doubts, his father went to the “police” of the pseudo-state and asked to see the photographs of the remains supposedly belonging to his son, which were given to him.
He found that the remains handed over to him differed significantly from those in the photographs. Gionul, who filed a request for exhumation in Turkey through the mediation of the Turkish “embassy” in the occupied territories, stated: “The body in the photographs they showed me is not the same as the body I was given. How is that possible? Did they say, ‘Since no one is looking anyway, let’s just give them whoever we happen to find’? The grave will be opened, and the truth will come to light.”
The father asked for clarification on the issues regarding the identification and the process of handing over the remains, since a DNA test had been conducted, and on October 6 they handed him the remains, telling him that they belonged to his son.
Source: CNA
