“Court Disregarded Evidence!”

The court disregarded all evidence but decided upon police testimony, attorney Kazım Bayraktar told bianet regarding the court’s decision not to arrest Ahmet Şahbaz - a policeman who is suspected of shooting Ethem Sarısülük during Gezi Park protests in Ankara. 

Police chief: I didn’t give the order

Prosecutor’s charges on “resulting in killing by surpassing the extend of self-defense” laid the ground for court’s decision, Bayraktar said. 

“The court released the suspected policeman on the possibility that ‘he might have defended himself’. However, the surveillance camera recordings do not at all portray a policeman who was left desperate among protestors. Even this is the case, police doesn’t have the right to fire. For self-defense, that policeman’s life must be in danger, which is not the case. He didn’t act within the limits of his competence.” 

Testifying to Ankara Prosecutor’s Office, Şahbaz’s police chief said he didn’t give the shooting order and witness the incident. He added that protestors threw stones at police forces in the meanwhile. 

“No stones hit the police”

The explained verdict of Ankara 13th Peace Court did not include any solid evidence, said Attorney Bayraktar. 

“The explained verdict doesn’t include the surveillance camera recording - where you can see everything clearly. You don’t see any police under stone showers. No stones hit the police.”  

“Experts did their exploration, they drew a sketch saying that the bullet hit the victim without bouncing. It was also reported that shooting was made with no preliminary warning shootings.” 

“The expert report included testimonies of three suspects. They explained in detail how that policeman left his shield on the floor to kick protestors and then ran away after shooting his gun. The autopsy report also confirmed by saying that the bullet did not bounce but hit directly. All this evidence was disregarded and went unregistered.” 

“It is not right to say, I was pressed and fired” 

The court verdict included all the lies that the suspected policeman procured to defend himself, attorney Bayraktar said. 

“The explained verdict elaborated that policeman fired air three times and was under stone shower. These are not true. He defended himself, saying that he was stuck by the corner of a precut building. This is also one of the things that are not true but were included in the verdict.” 

“The court disregarded all evidence and only considered a murder suspect’s testimony - which helped his release.”

“We will pave the way for ECHR”

The verdict is quite daring and seemed to be reached under the support of political power, Bayraktar claimed. 

“Judicial authorities explicitly showed that they were standing next to political power. The most dangerous of all is that this incident can be an excuse to shoot protestors who throw stones. If the verdict is interpreted this, police will freely shoot.” 

“Inner jurisdiction is exhausted, it was explicitly impended by political authorities and accepted by judicial authorities. We will now work on the expose this. We will pave the way to apply for ECHR.” 

We are collecting evidence on how political authorities are encouraging police actions, we are going to attempt to prove that inner jurisdiction has been left dysfunctional by the political power, Bayraktar said. 

Who is Ethem Sarısülük?

Ethem Sarısülük was born in July 1986 into a poor family with 5 children. Forth child, he dropped Abidinpaşa Industrial Profession High School and worked on a variety of jobs including portering and weltering. Lately, he was working in Ankara’s OSTİM Organized Industry Zone. (AS/BM)