Killed Gezi protester's family to be paid damages, officer to be retried, rules top court

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Examining the application of the family of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, who lost his life after being beaten by police officers and civilians during the 2013 Gezi Park protests, the Constitutional Court has unanimously ruled that "material and procedural aspects of prohibition of torture was violated."

A copy of the verdict will be sent to the Kayseri 3rd Heavy Penal Court for the retrial of police officer Hüseyin Engin for the elimination of the consequences of the violation.

In the case that was examined by the Court of Cassation twice, Engin was given a deferred prison sentence of 7 months and 15 days.

The Constitutional Court also ruled that Korkmaz's family should be paid 67,500 lira (~3,760 US dollars) in compensation.

In the application, the family had alleged that the right to life, right to hold a gathering and assembly, and prohibition of ill-treatment were violated.

While the high court found a violation of the prohibition of torture, it unanimously dismissed the other claims as "inadmissible."

What happened?

Ali İsmail Korkmaz, a student of English teaching at Anadolu University, took part in the Gezi Park protests in the central Anatolian province of Eskişehir on June 3., 2013.

He was beaten by a group of casually dressed people, as he was running away from the police, who were responding to the demonstrators with tear gas.

Arriving at Yunus Emre Public Hospital after being beaten, Korkmaz was not initially admitted and was told to testify at the security directorate first.

The hospital officials refused to admit him the next morning as well, while his situation worsened.

When he was finally admitted to Eskişehir State Hospital, he was diagnosed with "brain hemorrhage." He was later on transferred to Osmangazi Medical School Hospital. Undergoing a surgical operation there, Korkmaz remained unresponsive from June 4, 2013, and lost his life on July 10, after 38 days of coma.

The trial

Eight people, including four police officers, were put on trial for the killing of Korkmaz. One officer and four others were remanded in custody.

The court announced its ruling at the eighth hearing on January 21, 2015. The arrested police officer was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison and the other four arrested people were sentenced to three years and four months in prison for "causing death by deliberate injury." The sentences were reduced due to "good conduct."

The court ruled that arrested police officer Mevlüt Saldoğan committed the offense of "causing death by deliberate injury" rather than "deliberate murder" and sentenced him to 13 years in prison. However, his prison term was reduced to 10 years, 10 months.

On December 22, 2016, the 1st Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation upheld the prison sentence of Mevlüt Saldoğan as well as the 10-year prison sentence of police officer Yalçın Akbulut and the prison sentences of six years, eight months given to released defendants İsmail Koyuncu, Ramazan Koyuncu and Muhammet Vatansever. (AS/VK)