 Süleyman Çelebi was buried in Kırklareli. DHA photo |
The suspicious suicide of a man convicted of involvement in a brutal massacre in southeast Turkey has raised accusations that the death was a murder meant to silence the man.
Süleyman Çelebi apparently killed himself in prison. He had been given 44 life sentences for his involvement in the May 4, 2009 Bilge village massacre, where gunmen killed 44 people, seven of which were children. After his conviction, suspicions focused on his brother, Mehmet Çelebi, as the mastermind of the massacre.
Süleyman Çelebi, who had been warned not to speak about the incident during the trial process by Mehmet Çelebi, was found hanged from a clothesline at the prison on Jan. 4. The prosecutors’ office began an investigation after neighborhood head Abdurrahman Çelebi and his victimized acquaintances claimed that Çelebi had been killed to keep him from speaking. Prosecutors have demanded the prison’s security tapes to review.
Mehmet Çelebi and Süleyman Çelebi were housed in the same cell in the prison. The tapes show that nobody entered the cell after Mehmet Çelebi left it to speak with his lawyer and before the body was found. During a phone conversation Süleyman Çelebi had with his wife just before he was found dead, it was learned that he told his wife, “Take care of my children.”
Süleyman Çelebi’s oldest son, Mustafa Çelebi, who does not believe his father committed suicide, said his father is illiterate yet a suicide note was found by the body, ostensibly written by the deceased Çelebi. The prosecutors’ office will send the signature and handwriting samples for comparison to the Forensic Medicine Institute. “Mehmet Çelebi caused the death of 44 people. One hour before his death I had a phone call with my father. He was talking very logically; he told me, ‘Speak with our lawyer and ask whether Article 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code, or CMK, applies to us,’” Mustafa Çelebi said.
Süleyman Çelebi was buried in Kırklareli. His body was taken from the state hospital’s morgue and brought to the Ahmet Cevdet Paşa Mosque under high security precautions.
Süleyman Çelebi apparently killed himself in prison. He had been given 44 life sentences for his involvement in the May 4, 2009 Bilge village massacre, where gunmen killed 44 people, seven of which were children. After his conviction, suspicions focused on his brother, Mehmet Çelebi, as the mastermind of the massacre.
Süleyman Çelebi, who had been warned not to speak about the incident during the trial process by Mehmet Çelebi, was found hanged from a clothesline at the prison on Jan. 4. The prosecutors’ office began an investigation after neighborhood head Abdurrahman Çelebi and his victimized acquaintances claimed that Çelebi had been killed to keep him from speaking. Prosecutors have demanded the prison’s security tapes to review.
Mehmet Çelebi and Süleyman Çelebi were housed in the same cell in the prison. The tapes show that nobody entered the cell after Mehmet Çelebi left it to speak with his lawyer and before the body was found. During a phone conversation Süleyman Çelebi had with his wife just before he was found dead, it was learned that he told his wife, “Take care of my children.”
Süleyman Çelebi’s oldest son, Mustafa Çelebi, who does not believe his father committed suicide, said his father is illiterate yet a suicide note was found by the body, ostensibly written by the deceased Çelebi. The prosecutors’ office will send the signature and handwriting samples for comparison to the Forensic Medicine Institute. “Mehmet Çelebi caused the death of 44 people. One hour before his death I had a phone call with my father. He was talking very logically; he told me, ‘Speak with our lawyer and ask whether Article 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code, or CMK, applies to us,’” Mustafa Çelebi said.
Süleyman Çelebi was buried in Kırklareli. His body was taken from the state hospital’s morgue and brought to the Ahmet Cevdet Paşa Mosque under high security precautions.
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