‘Kemal Kurkut’s killing was a result of impunity,’ says HDP

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Ümit Dede, the Vice Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Responsible for Law and Human Rights, has made a statement about the impunity in the lawsuit filed into the killing of Kemal Kurkut.

CLICK - Police officer who shot Kemal Kurkut acquitted

Kemal Kurkut (23) wanted to attend the Newroz celebrations in Turkey's Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır province on March 21, 2017. Having passed the checkpoint, he lost his life after the police opened fire on him.

At the final hearing of the lawsuit filed into his killing yesterday (November 17), the Diyarbakır 7th Heavy Penal Court referred to "a lack of conclusive and convincing evidence" and ruled that defendant police officer Y.Ş. should be acquitted of the offense charged.

'Journalist who documented it faces prison term'

In the HDP's statement about the judicial process that ended in acquittal, it has been stressed that "security forces act behind the armor of impunity."

"As a result of the mindset that does not recognize the rule of law and its citizens' democratic rights and uses the governing power at its disposal against people, Kemal Kurkut was massacred by the hand of the state when he was only 23 years old," the HDP has protested.

"The massacre of Kemal Kurkut was a result of the failure to investigate the massacres committed by the hand of the state in previous periods and to put the responsible parties on trial," the party has underlined.

"Massacring people behind the armor of impunity, the security forces are protected by the government and described as heroes, they are patted on the back by getting ridiculous sentences and they are, in a way, encouraged to commit other massacres. In the current judicial system, 'where a new reform is introduced after yet another', the police who killed Kemal Kurkut before cameras has been acquitted while journalist Abdurrahman Gök faces 20 years in prison for the sole reason that with the pictures he took, he documented how Kemal Kurkut was massacred."

Referring to the acquittal of the police officer as "one of the painful examples of impunity policy in the judicial system," the HDP has stressed that the ruling in question has "once again massacred justice, social peace and sense of justice as well as the conscience of society."

Extending their condolences to the family and loved ones of Kemal Kurkut one more time, the party has also reiterated its determination to "keep on standing by them in their legal struggle so that the responsible parties will get the highest penalties possible" for killing Kurkut.

What happened?

Kemal Kurkut was shot dead by the police at the security checkpoint on Evrim Alataş street near Newroz Park in Diyarbakır on March 21, 2017.

In the photos taken at the incident time, Kurkut was seen bare-chested quarreling with police at the checkpoint and starting to run passing through the checkpoint. Some police officers fired in the air, some fired on him.

Dihaber reported that Kemal Kurkut was shot despite a police chief ordering "Don't shoot". Diyarbakır Governor's Office declared that Kurkut had a knife in his hand, he was "suspected to be a suicide attacker", and an investigation has been launched into the incident.

Born in Adıyaman, Kurkut was a student at İnönü University Fine Arts Faculty Department of Music. His funeral was held on March 22 in Battalgazi district of Malatya province. (AS/SD)