Murderer of Homosexual Refugee Sankari Gets Unjust Provocation Reduction

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İstanbul 19th Heavy Criminal Court has reduced the prison sentence of B.A, the murderer of Wisam Sankari, a homosexual refugee from Syria to 15 years on the grounds of both unjust provocation and good time conduct.

According to the report of Yıldız Tar from Kaos GL (Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association), B.A. stood trial on the charge of "murder and torment with a monstrous feeling" and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The life sentence was reduced to 18 years in prison on the ground that "the crime was committed during a fight and that it was not clear who was responsible for the first unjust move".

Besides the "reduction for unjust provocation," the court reduced the sentence again over "good time conduct" to 15 years.
The reasoned decision of the court has not been made public yet.

"All efforts of the prosecutor wasted"

Attorney Fırat Söyle commenting on the court's decision for bianet underlined that on contrary to the completion of the indictment with great efforts, the trial proceeded in a manner of "who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword, there is a crime in question but it is not that severe" and noted:

"The bill of indictment which was prepared with great efforts actually demanded trial on the charges of 'murder and torment with monstrous feelings', 'murder of someone who is physically unable to defend her/himself' and 'willful murder'. But the judgment process proceeded in a way that wasted all the efforts of the prosecutor and in a mentality of 'who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword, there is a crime in question but it is not that severe'".

"Such precision which we don't see in murder cases of trans and homosexual individuals"

"The prosecutor who prepared the indictment and the prosecutor of the trial have completely different opinions. But this indictment was actually one, which treated the murder cases of both trans and homosexual individuals with such precision that we do not see that often.

"As also demonstrated in the forensic medicine report, he received injuries from 39 spots, 16 of which are deadly. But still, the court only convicts B.A. of 'willful murder', Söyle said and added:

"You can't grant reduction for unjust provocation to someone who takes the victim to a quiet place, stabs him 39 times with a knife and hits him with a rock as if it was not enough to kill him, and digs a hole to drift the blood".

The court also did not take the statement of suspect B.A's ex-lover A.K. into account who said "we were ex-lovers, and he was constantly beating me because I did not want sexual intercourse."

What happened?

Wisam Sankari, a homosexual refugee from Syria left his apartment at night on July 23, 2016, in Aksaray district in İstanbul and was found dead in Yenikapı district on July 25, 2016.

He had been beheaded and his body was in an unidentifiable condition.

Wisam had been threatened before, kidnapped by a group of men, and raped. (ÇT/DG)