Case of Killing by Armored Vehicle Starts Without Defendant

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Trial about Şahin Öner (19), who lost his life by an armored vehicle hitting him five years ago in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır, started yesterday (February 15).

The only defendant, police officer S.K. pending trial without arrest didn't attend the hearing. His lawyer demanded that that the case be transferred since the defendant is a police officer.

Lawyers of Öner family demanded that the defendant be arrested.

Diyarbakır 1st Heavy Penal Court rejected both demands, and ordered for the armored vehicle to be examined.

The defendant will be heard via Audio and Visual Information System in the next hearing.

What happened?

Police intervened in the protest staged in Şehitlik neighborhood in Diyarbakır’s district of Yenişehir on February 10, 2013. 19-year-old high school student Şahin Öner lost his life.

Diyarbakır Governorship said, “he lost his life when one attempted to take the explosive from his hand”. However, according to the preliminary autopsy report, Öner “died resulting from being crushed in an accident”.

Human Rights Association (İHD) Diyarbakır Branch Vice Chair Lawyer Serdar Çelebi told bianet they examined Öner’s autopsy report and no trace of explosive could be found in the report to the contrary of governorship’s allegation.

Two eyewitnesses also testified that Öner died in an armored vehicle crushing him.

Besides, the İHD Diyarbakır Branch stated that despite fatal injuries, Öner was taken to a garden of a police station rather than a hospital, and then was taken to a hospital after being kept there for half an hour.

However, Office of the Chief Prosecutor Authorized Through Anti-Terror Law Article 10 rendered verdict of non-jurisdiction for the police driver of the vehicle on offense of “reckless homicide” and sent it to the prosecutor’s office. Following the investigation of four years, the case opened through this offense.

First hearing of the trial was held on June 29, 2017. Approving the Öner's family's lawyers demand, Diyarbakır 7th Criminal Court of First Instance ruled that it was a "willful murder" and sent the filed to the heavy penal court. (AS/TK)