New Suspect Arrested

A new suspect, who has been detected through surveillance camera footage, has been arrested for the killing of Ali Ismail Korkmaz. While the request of defense lawyer for the release of their clients have been rejected, the total number of arrests climbed to 5 including one policeman. 

On July 10, university student Ali Ismail Korkmaz (19), a Gezi Resistance protestor who was severely battened by a group of casually-dressed people on June 3 while running away from police intervention, died in a hospital in the central province of Eskişehir.

It was reported that two of three surveillance cameras nearby the crime scene had no recordings and the only remaining camera recordings turned out to be “damaged” and “missing”. Prosecutors launched investigations on law enforcement officers who collected the footage. 

An expert report included “damaged” footage from the time of incident, however no scenes of beating were included. 

Later on, Gendarmerie Criminal Unit was able to retain footage of murder moment that has been deleted. On August 7, a court arrested 4 suspects including a policeman. 

Orhan Çetingül, Chief Prosecutor of Eskişehir, held a press conference, saying that the deletion of footage has not been made by police. “3 suspects admitted the deletion in their testimonies.”

Gürkan Korkmaz, advocate and brother of Ali Ismail Korkmaz, said a new suspect has been arrested after being detected by surveillance camera footage. 

“The new arrested suspect is a civilian. The court also rejected the release request of other defendants,” he said. (BK/BM)

* Click here to read the original article in Turkish.