Court finds ministry culpable for 12-year-old Ceylan Önkol's death, orders compensation

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A court has found that the Ministry of Interior was culpable for the death of Ceylan Önkol in the Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır province in 2009 and ordered it to pay 283,000 lira (~37,490 USD) for material and immaterial damages.

The 12-year-old child lost her life after a mortar shell exploded while she was pasturing sheep in the Şenlik village in Diyarbakır's Lice district.

The Diyarbakır 2nd Administrative Court ruled that the ministry was 90 percent at fault.

After the Önkol family filed a lawsuit against the state, the court previously ruled that 28,208 lira (~3,733 USD) should be paid to them for material damages but did not give a decision for immaterial damages. The family then appealed the decision.

The Lice Chief Public Prosecutor's Office concluded that the evidence and reports were not sufficient to identify the perpetrators and shelved the investigation file by issuing a "permanent search warrant."

"The security service was not carried out properly"

In the retrial of the case, the Ministry of Interior claimed that the administration was not at fault for the incident, Mesopotamia Agency reported.

However, the court noted that the ministry did not present information proving that the scene of the incident was not a place where villagers used when pasturing animals and children played.

"In these circumstances, it has been concluded that the defendant administration had a service defect in the incident because the presence of unexploded ammunition in an area that people always use and that is close to settlements shows that the security service provided by the defendant administration was not carried out properly," says the court decision.

Citing an expert report stating that the explosion occurred after Önkol hit the ammunition with an object, the court concluded that she was 10 percent at fault and the ministry was 90 percent at fault.

Taking into account the child was found 10 percent at fault, the court ruled that her mother Saliha Önkol should be paid 112,230 lira in compensation. She had requested 124,700 lira.

Considering that he was put on a salary, Önkol's father should be paid 70,101 lira in compensation, the court also ruled. He had requested 77,890 lira.

(AS/VK)