Turkey Convicted for Gas Canister Death

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) gave its verdict on the case submitted by the family of Tarık Ataykaya, killed by a gas canister that struck his head.

Ataykaya had lost his life when a gas canister struck his head in a demonstration in Diyarbakır on March 29, 2006.

The ECHR ruled that the right to life stipulated in article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated. Turkey is to pay Ataykaya’s family 65,000 Euros for non-pecuniary damages and 5,000 Euros for court charges.

The officer could not be determined

Following the armed conflict on March 24, 2006 where 14 members of the PKK were killed, lots of demonstrations took place between May 28-31, 2006 and nine demonstrators were killed.

On March 29, 2006, Tarık Ataykaya found himself in the middle of the demonstrations when he left his work place. A tear gas canister a police officer threw to disperse the demonstrators struck his head, a few minutes after which he died.

An autopsy was done the following day. A few days later, experts concluded that canister number 12 had hit Tarık Ataykaya’s head, but the police officer that had fired it could not be determined.

On April 19, father Mehmet Nesip Ataykaya filed a complaint at Diyarbakır Prosecution Office. Lots of witnesses were heard at the investigation that attested to having seen the masked police officer that had fired the tear gas canister. The investigation was nolle prossed.

The Diyarbakır Governorate conducted an administrative investigation into the 14 police officers that had used tear gas in the event, but ended it on grounds of “insufficient evidence” in January 30, 2008.

ECHR: The shooter aimed at Ataykaya

Tarık Ataykaya’s father Mehmet Nesip Ataykaya applied to the ECHR on October 17, 2008 claiming his son had died due to the police’s use of extreme force and that the prosecution had not conducted the necessary investigations.

He also stated that the incompletion of the investigation into his son’s death is inhumane. He held that the judiciary fell short of punishing the shooter.

The court decided first of all that Ataykaya’s son had lost his life on March 29, 2006 because the gas canister the police fired struck his head.

The ECHR stated that evaluation had been unable proceed so that the police officers would remain unpunished, and that an expert’s opinion had not been sought despite the certainty on the point that the canister was aimed directly at Tarık Ataykaya. (BK/AS/PU)