Mavi Marmara inspected five years after Israeli attack

After a court order, the Mavi Marmara ship, one of the ships of the 'Freedom Flotilla' that sailed to deliver humanitarian aid to the enclaved Gaza Strip in 2010, was inspected on Monday, May 25, with the presence of several pro-Mavi Marmara lawyers and dozens of victims of the attack.

Five years following the Israeli army's attack on the ship, the 7th High Criminal Court in Istanbul, where the Mavi Marmara trial has been progressing, ordered the inspection of the ship.

In May 2010, aid Agency IHH sent six ships with humanitarian aid called the “freedom flotilla" to the Gaza Strip, which was under an Israeli blockade at the time.

On the early morning of May 31, 2010, the Israeli Commandos landed from helicopters on the largest ship, the Mavi Marmara, which they boarded in the Mediterranean Sea's international waters, and killed eight Turkish nationals and a Turkish-American citizen.

Several Israeli top officials including former Military Chief of Staff Rau Aluf Gabiel Ashkanazi, ex-Navy Chief Eliezer Alfred Maron, former head of the Air Force, Amos Hadline, and former head of Military Intelligence, Avishay Levi, face trial in absentia, because of their involvement in the attack on the Mavi Marmara aid ship headed to the enclaved Gaza Strip.

According to the Istanbul court order, a legal team representing the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, which had taken the case to the court, were present on the board along with 30 other victims who sailed with the “freedom flotilla".

Ramazan Arıtürk, one of the lawyers in the IHH team, said the decision of the reconnaissance after 5 years of the attack would accelerate the trial process.

He said that despite the delayed decision of the court “we find it appropriate and expedient," and added that the process would give the opportunity to make comparisons between the evidence on board and the things have been told so far. “It will contribute to the achievement of real results," he said.