Battered by police, citizen loses his life

* Photo: MA

Click to read the article in Turkish

Mehmet Şerif Coşkun had a heart attack after he had been battered by the police in Konak district of Turkey's Aegean province of İzmir. Coşkun has lost his life at the hospital where he was in treatment.

The incident happened in Kadifekale town on November 13. After shop owner Mehmet Şerif Coşkun (25) had been battered by motorcycle police officers, he was hospitalized in Bozyaka State Hospital.

Coşkun reportedly had multiple heart attacks after the battery of the police. Coşkun's family filed a criminal complaint against the officers.

'Six police officers battered him'

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), Mahmut Öztekin, one of the witnesses to the incident, has said that six police officers battered Mehmet Şerif Coşkun. Öztekin has recounted the incident as follows:

"My friend is 25 years old. He has been living in Kadifekale since his childhood. He has been managing a grocery store with his family. The store was closed on Friday. He went out to park the car.

"In the meantime, the motorcycle police officers came and wanted to make a criminal record check. Şerif said, 'Let me first park the car, then you will do it.' Şerif did not do anything, but six motorcycle police officers took him out of the car and started beating him. They sprayed pepper gas and kicked him while he was lying on the ground.

"It got crowded during the incident, we tried to stop the violence of the police. But they inflicted violence on us as well.

"A friend of mine was capturing all this with his phone, they took it away and deleted the videos. Then, I captured a video for a few minutes. They wanted to delete it as well, but I did not give them my phone."

(EKN/SD)