Turkey's top court says ‘Ethem Sarısülük's right to life not violated’

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The Constitutional Court has given its ruling regarding the death of Ethem Sarısülük, who was shot to death by police officer Ahmet Şahbaz during the Gezi resistance in 2013. Finalizing the application of his family, the top court has concluded that Sarısülük's right to life was not violated on procedural grounds and argued that the "investigation was effectively conducted."

The Constitutional Court has also found it "proportionate" that Ahmet Şahbaz has been sentenced to pay a fine of 15,200 lira.

While the top court has handed down the ruling by a majority of votes, six members of the court board, including Constitutional Court President Zühtü Arslan, have expressed dissenting opinions to the ruling. The ruling has been handed down by the approval of nine members.

Referring to police officer Ahmet Şahbaz, the ruling of the top court has recalled that he "fired his gun into the air to warn the crowd against him" and said that "...no finding has been detected to divert from the acceptance that the police officer did not fire by targeting."

Concluding the the 15,200-lira judicial fine given to police officer Ahmet Şahbaz was "proportionate", the Constitutional Court has said:

"...When the dimension of the protests and the intensity of the attacks as well as what the police officers who intervened against the protests before the moment of the incident had gone through are taken into consideration, it cannot be concluded that the nature of the crime detected by the Aksaray High Criminal Court and the ruling of conviction given on the basis of this detection were not based on a comprehensive, objective and impartial analysis of all findings or that the judicial fine imposed on the defendant who was arrested pending trial for 14 months was not proportionate to the consequence that ensued..."

Top court president said 'impunity'

Expressing a dissenting opinion to the ruling, Constitutional Court President Zühtü Arslan has written in justification:

"I am of the opinion that the investigation/ prosecution was not effective on the grounds that it was not justified why it was necessary to move the court case, it led to impunity and a 6-year period of trial was not reasonable; therefore, I think that the applicant's right to life was violated."

Criticizing the ruling further, Arslan has written:

"It is not possible to say that ruling for a 'judicial fine' at the end of a trial where the right to life was concerned is proportionate to the consequence that ensued. Penalizing such a grave consequence with a judicial fine, which is close to the lower limit, leads to impunity."

What happened?

During the protests in the capital city of Ankara in support of the Gezi resistance in İstanbul, worker Ethem Sarısülük was shot in the head by a police bullet on June 1, 2013. Severely wounded, he was taken to the Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital.

Sarısülük lost his life on June 14, 2013.

It was proven by a ballistic report that the gun which shot Sarısülük belonged to police officer Ahmet Şahbaz. The Ankara 13th Criminal Court of Peace ruled that Şahbaz should be free pending trial on the grounds of "the possibility that it could be considered self-defense."

The trial ended on September 3, 2014. The court board reduced the prison sentence to be given to Ahmet Şahbaz by citing "unjust provocation" and "good conduct" and by exercising mitigatory discretion. Şahbaz was sentenced to 7 years, 9 months, 10 days in the end.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation found the sentence insufficient and demanded that police officer Şahbaz be penalized for "wilful killing". The Court of Cassation overturned the local court ruling on procedural grounds. A retrial was held.

The Aksaray High Criminal Court handed down its ruling on December 19, 2016 and ruled that Şahbaz should be sentenced to 1 year, 4 months, 20 days in prison. It was converted to a judicial fine of 10,100 lira.

Another retrial was held as the Court of Cassation overturned the local court ruling again. On March 21, 2018, the local court ruled that the prison sentence should be increased to 2 years and it should be converted to a judicial fine of 15,200 lira. Considering that the officer had been arrested pending trial for 14 months, the court this sentence had been executed. (HA/SD)