'Pepper gas had an effect on Metin Lokumcu's death'

Click to read the article in Turkish

The report prepared by the Forensic Medicine Institution has found that his exposure to pepper gas during police intervention triggered the chronic cardiac disease of Metin Lokumcu, a retired teacher from Turkey's Black Sea province of Artvin, who lost his life in Hopa in May 2011.

Speaking to bianet about the report, attorney Meriç Eyüboğlu says that it will set a precedent in similar cases.

The related forensic medical report indicates the following:

"Given that the death of the person who had a chronic cardiovascular disease occurred after his existing cardiovascular disease was activated as a result of the effort and stress of the incident and he was exposed to intense chlorobenzalmalononitrile CS gas at a close range, it has been unanimously agreed that this exposure shall be considered an additional factor to the effort and stress factor activating his existing cardiovascular disease."

'A causality between death and pepper gas'

Retired teacher Metin Lokumcu lost his life during a police intervention into a protest demonstration in Artvin's Hopa district, where the then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came as part of his election campaign on May 31, 2011. The investigation into his death has been completed nine years later.

The first hearing of the case will be held at the Hopa Penal Court of First Instance on December 24, 2020.

The indictment issued by the Hopa Chief Public Prosecutor's Office also indicates that Lokumcu lost his life due to the effect of pepper spray.

As the dead bodies are normally not examined for the effects of gases used in social incidents in the autopsy, attorney Eyüboğlu previously requested a report about this from the Turkish Medical Association (TTB).

The TTB prepared the report in 2012 based on the hospital document dated May 31, 2011, the investigation file of the Hopa Public Prosecutor's Office and the findings of the autopsy undertaken by the Mortuary Specialization Chamber of the Trabzon Forensic Medicine Institution.

Evaluating these documents, the TTB has indicated that "the person did not have a cardiac disease or a pulmonary disease such as KOAH to the extent that it could cause his death and he did not die as a result of an existing disease, as was also stated in the autopsy report."

Noting that Lokumcu had been "exposed to chemical gas (OC and CS) in a emotionally stressful environment," the TTB has concluded that "there was a relation of causality between his death and exposure to chemical gas":

"...Scientifically, the most likely mechanism of death is a damage to lungs, asphyxia, respiratory failure and acidosis with the effect of the chemical on the respiratory system and, with a lesser degree of probability, a pulmonary edema accompanying a sudden hypertensive crisis and a ventricular fibrillation that could be triggered by all aforementioned mechanisms..."

What happened?

Retired teacher Metin Lokumcu lost his life after having a heart attack as he was affected by the pepper gas used by the police and the blows he received during the incidents that occured during and after the rally of the then PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Hopa, Artvin on May 31, 2011.

On the day of the incident, Lokumcu stood in front of the police with his hands behind his back, calling out to the police, "Come on, take me and save the country." This picture was then reported in the press.

70 people were detained as part of the investigation into the incidents and 16 of the detained were arrested. These persons were released afterwards.

Following Lokumcu's death, the then Prime Minister Erdoğan talked about him at the publicity meeting of the "Turkey is Ready, Target is 2023" project in İstanbul. "And, in the meantime, one of them had a heart attack... I don't know his identity... But I don't feel the need to dwell on it... He has died of a heart attack," said Erdoğan about Lokumcu. (AS/SD)