Human rights defender Eren Keskin sharply criticized the approach of the Forensic Medicine Institute in the case of Rojin Kabaiş, a university student who died under suspicious circumstances in Van (Wan). Keskin spoke to Ömer Ibrahimoğlu from Mezopotamya Agency and said the Forensic Medicine Institute delayed the release of the DNA results for a full year, prolonging the process. Keskin said that the Forensic Medicine Institute had, until that day, worked to conceal torture.
The suspicious death of Rojin Kabaiş, a student in the Child Development Department at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, remains unresolved despite the time that has passed. The institute’s supplementary report revealed that the previously suggested “possibility of contamination” was dismissed. Closely following the case, Eren Keskin said the institute contributed to obscuring the file through both delay and a manipulative approach.
They stalled society by calling it suicide
Keskin said the Forensic Medicine Institute created the impression of “suicide” in its initial report and added: “They wanted society to believe this. The family did not believe it and continued to fight; the bar associations of Van and Diyarbakır (Amed) became involved. So why was the conclusion that there was no contamination announced one year later? The Forensic Medicine Institute played a very serious role in delaying this case.”
Keskin pointed to severe negligence by the university administration, the state dormitory, and those responsible for reviewing the camera footage. She said: “Official institutions were excluded from the examination. Posts were shared on social media pointing to the identities of the perpetrators. All of this should have been evaluated by the prosecutor’s office.”
The Forensic Medicine Institute is a mechanism for concealing torture
Eren Keskin emphasized that the Forensic Medicine Institute has systematically functioned as an instrument of the state’s impunity policy and said: “The reason the Forensic Medicine Institute is accepted as the sole authorized expert body is that torture is a state policy. The Forensic Medicine Institute has, until today, worked to conceal torture. The 1980s, the 1990s, prison operations, sick prisoners… In all of these, impunity was maintained through the institute’s reports. This is why no one wants the Forensic Medicine Institute to be questioned.”
Keskin said she believes complaints will therefore lead to no result, stated that what is happening is, in fact, “a state policy.”
The judiciary has been completely brought under control
Keskin spoke about the current state of the judiciary and said confidence in justice has entirely collapsed. She said, “In this geography, the judiciary has always been dependent, but today we are experiencing something different: a judiciary tied to a single center, working under fear. Judges and prosecutors are so afraid that they cannot even look lawyers in the eye. Society is also governed through fear; people remain silent because they worry that something may happen to them. The judiciary’s role today is precisely this: not to punish and to intimidate.”
Keskin said sustained public pressure is essential for the clarification of Rojin Kabaiş’s case, added that the delaying and concealing practices of the Forensic Medicine Institute have reached a point where accountability is inevitable.