“Policeman who Shot Ethem Sarısülük is Being Protected”

Kazım Bayraktar, advocate of Ethem Sarısülük who was gravely wounded after police fire in Ankara Gezi Park resistance, said the police authorities were hiding the policeman who shot his client in the head.  

On June 1 Ethem Sarısülük (27), a worker, was shot in the head by a policeman during a protest in Ankara to support Taksim Gezi Park resistance. 

Hospitalized in Ankara’s Numune Eğitim ve Araştırma Hospital, the situation of Sarısülük still remains critical. 

“Ethem’s situation is very critical. Every minute we are anticipating the sad news. His brain and heart functions are normal, but his organ complications are too severe,” Bayraktar said.  

“Impossible not to detect”

Bayraktar continued that an crime scene investigation has been conducted with witnesses and experts in the crime scene, and he watched the surveillance camera recordings. 

“They wrote the crime scene investigation reports. It is obvious that whoever shot a gunfire is a policeman. Both eyewitnesses and video recordings confirm this. On the recordings, you can see a policeman letting off his shield, jumping onto protestors, throwing kicks and returning after firing off his gun. Everything takes place before the eyes of his supervisor.” 

He added that he knew the identities of the policeman and his supervisor. 

“Police forces are handed guns and ammunition with a registration. If a gun or ammunition is used within an incident, it is always on the records. In this way, whoever fires a gun is always identifiable.”

What does it mean “We don’t let our police eaten?”

Veli Dalgalı, the prosecutor in charge of investigating the case, submitted an official request to police authorities last week for the identification of the aforementioned police officer. “He has yet to get a response from police authorities,” Bayraktar claimed. 

“Even though there is an official request, police authorities decline to hand their policeman to the prosecutor. PM Erdogan previously said: ‘We don’t let our police eaten.’ We fear that it may lead to arbitrary use of guns during Gezi protests. If this policeman won’t be arrested, others will freely fire their guns.”

Advocate Bayraktar also claimed that police commissioner committed the crimes of “concealing and aiding a crime actor” as he declined to disclose the name of the shooter policeman.  

The crime scene investigation report cites that one of the witnesses saw Sarısülük being shot by an armed policeman and fall onto the ground after that, Bayraktar said. 

Crime evidence also missing 

The prosecutor’s office officially requested a detailed report from experts, as well as video recordings and name of the suspected policeman from police authorities. However, police authorities failed to respond to prosecutor’s demand. It is also claimed that the empty shell that shot Sarısülük is still missing.  

In a video recorded by press members, Sarısülük is clearly portrayed falling down after a gunfire. Some police forces notices Sarısülük’s injury upon his friend’s alert. Eyewitnesses say that Sarısülük was immediately taken to the hospital in an ambulance. (AS/BM)

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