Killed by a gas canister fired by the police in Okmeydanı, Istanbul, on 16 June 2013 during the Gezi protests, Berkin Elvan would have turned 26 yesterday (5 January).
The Elvan family shared a message on their X account on the occasion of Berkin Elvan’s birthday.
“Today is the birthday of our Berkin, of our son, of our baby. He would have been 26 years old, had he lived. Your smile, your dreams, your hopes are still with us. We will never give up the struggle for you. With love and never ending yearning... #Berkin Elvan”
What happened?
Berkin Elvan was born on 5 January 1999. He was injured by a gas canister fired during a police attack in Okmeydanı, Istanbul, on 16 June 2013 during the Gezi protests. He passed away 269 days later, on 11 March 2014, at the Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital where he was being treated.
The prosecutor was changed six times in the case. Upon the request of prosecutor Faruk Bildirici, camera footage from the water cannon at the head of the street where Elvan was shot and used by the police was examined by the National Criminal Bureau expert, and the report of analysis was presented to the file on 6 May 2014.
Upon the request of prosecutor İsa Dalgıç, the same footage was also examined at the Gendarmerie Criminal Laboratory. In the clarified images, it was determined that there were two suspect police officers and that one of these officers had caused Elvan’s death.
The investigation concluded on 7 December 2016.
The indictment prepared by İsa Dağlı, a prosecutor of the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office Employee Crimes Bureau, asked for police officer F.D., the only defendant named by the indictment, to be tried on charges of “murder by possible intent”.
The indictment stated that the police had intervened in protestors who were “resisting” and that Berkin Elvan, who received a head injury during the intervention, was taken to hospital where he eventually lost his life.
The 11-page-indictment sent to the Istanbul 17th Heavy Penal Court was accepted.
A decision of non-prosecution was passed regarding the 42 police officers questioned within the scope of the investigation.
Oya Aslan, lawyer of the Elvan family, stated that only one police officer at the scene of the incident had been charged, that the case had been brought not on charges of “murder with intent” but “murder with possible intent”, and that in this way, the sentence of imprisonment had been reduced to 20 years: “Murder with intent would mean life, yet murder with possible intent means the sentence is reduced to 20 years. Yet even the camera footage was enough to bring charges of murder with intent.”
(EMK/NHRD)