Constitutional Court: 'Unjust provocation' can not be applied to the shooting of a 12-year-old

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A positive decision for the family came by Turkey's Constitutional Court on the killing of a 12-year-old boy who was shot with a gun by the police seven years ago.

The Constitutional Court ruled that the "unjust provocation" cannot be applied in the killing of the child and that the right to life is violated. The case file will be reopened.

Evaluating the decision to bianet, father Mehmet Emin Kazanhan said:

"It won't bring Nihat back, but it's still a positive decision. Many children like Nihat were killed for no reason, this decision may prevent this from happening in the future."

"We thought they were making fun of us"

Father Kazanhan said that the authorities, including the Prime Minister of that time, Ahmet Davutoğlu denied the truth about the death of his son.

" After the video was shown on Fox TV, they accepted that he was hit by a bullet," he said.

"They insisted that the police did not fire with a gun, but when the footage came out, it was revealed that the boy did not even throw a stone and the police deliberately shot and killed my son. We want him to be punished according to the law."

"Stone-throwing kids at police are sentenced to several years of punishment. Killing a child deliberately should not be left unpunished. ... When the court announced its decision, we felt that they were making fun of us. I hope this mistake will change with the decision of the Constitutional Court."

"Impunity results in similar incidents"

Kazanhan family's attorney and also the Chair of Şırnak Bar Association Rojhat Dilsiz noted that the judicial process took a long time for Kazanhan's case.

"As in similar cases, we faced with impunity during the investigation and trial processes. From the beginning of the trials, we stated that there was spoliation of evidence. However, our objections were not taken into account by the board."

"Almost all such cases result in impunity and unfortunately impunity results in similar incidents."

"All of the administrative authorities lied"

Attorney Dilsiz also reminded us that the truth was revealed by security camera footage that it was indeed the police who had shot Nihat.

"The Police, the Governor's Office, and the authorities have all made statements denying the use of guns in the incident. The police even claimed that there was no police unit at the scene at that time. The Prime Minister of the time, Davutoğlu, similarly said that the shooting of Nihat was out of the question. All the administrative authorities lied."

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"Unjust Provocation"

Dilsiz added that the court gave an unfair provocation decision regarding the police officer and said, "How can this decision be applied to a 12-year-old boy?".

CLICK - 'How Could a 12 Year-Old Child Provoke Police', Asks Attorney of Kazanhan Shot to Death

The Constitutional Court ruled

Although a detailed ruling of the Constitutional Court has not been prepared yet, Dilsiz announced the decision on Twitter.

Dilsiz, giving the background information about the killing of 12 year old, stated the following:

"Despite all evidence and footage, the local court applied unjust provocation reduction, (although there was no unjust provocation), and as a result, it reduced the sentence to 13 years and 4 months in prison, and this sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court, despite all our objections."

"We took the case to the Constitutional Court, and the Constitutional Court decided that the right to life was violated and unjust provocation reduction could not be applied. It sent the case file to the local court to be heard again."

7 yıl önce Cizre’de 12 yaşındaki Nihat KAZANHAN Cizre İlçe emniyet müdürlüğünde görevli bir polis memuru tarafından ateşli silahla kafasına nişan alınararak öldürülmüştü++
— Rojhat Dilsiz (@rojhatdilsiz7) May 26, 2022

The file will be sent to the Cizre 1st Heavy Penal Court for a retrial.

The Constitutional Court also ruled that the Kazanhan family be given 90 thousand Liras of non-pecuniary damages.

What happened?

12-year-old Nihat Kazanhan, a Kurdish boy killed by the police on 14 January 2015 in Turkey's southeastern province of Şırnak's Cizre district.

Prime Minister of the time, Ahmet Davutoğlu had stated that the police were not responsible for Kazanhan's death.

It was later revealed by security camera footage that it was indeed the police who had shot Nihat.

An officer from the Police Special Operation Department who was on duty on the day of the incident, H.V. held responsible for Kazanhan's death and was arrested in Mardin on January 29.

The same policeman was released after he testified that another police officer shot Nihat in his statement to the Cizre Public Prosecutor and the Cizre Penal Court of Peace. The other police officer, M.N.G. was sent to prison pending trial.

A lawsuit was filed against the police and three other police officers who were at the scene when Nihat was shot, by the Cizre Heavy Penal Court on the charge of 'not reporting the crime made by a public official.

Police officer H.V. said "We thought no one would be arrested in this file," in his statement.

The court gave its decision at the 10th hearing held at the Cizre 1st Heavy Penal Court Court on November 11, 2016.

The police officer, who was tried for 'deliberate killing', was sentenced to an aggravated life sentence by the court.

Later the court ruled that the police officer committed the crime with eventual intent and reduced it to a life sentence.

Applying unjust provocation reduction, the court reduced the penalty to 16 years of imprisonment. Moreover, due to the good behavior of the perpetrator, the court announced the final verdict as 13 years and 4 months.

(AS/TB)