No sentence for police officer who shot student dead during Newroz celebrations

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The police officer who killed a university student during the 2017 Newroz celebrations in the mostly Kurdish-populated southeastern province of Diyarbakır has been cleared of "wilful murder" charges.

The officer, identified with the initials Y.K., shot Kemal Kurkut, 23, near a security checkpoint at the celebration area. The man was killed on the scene. During the trial, the officer said he had shot Kurkut on suspicion of carrying a bomb even though his upper body was naked.

Previously, the Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice, the appeals court, overturned a decision of acquittal, and concluded a decision should be given that there was "no room for punishment."

The Diyarbakır 7th Heavy Penal Court, which retried the case, yesterday (January 17) ruled that there was no room for punishment, concluding that the conditions had arisen for the officer to use a weapon.

Y.K. and the brother of Kurkut attended the hearing via video conference while the attorneys of the parties were present in the courtroom.

The prosecutor demanded no sentence be given to the officer, in line with the appeals court decision.

"Impunity"

Serdar Çelebi, attorney of the Kurkut family, pointed out impunity in his statement.

"An ordinary trial where the perpetrator is a police officer and the slain person is a Kurd," he said, adding questioning why the crime scene had not been reconstructed.

"The police officer closest to the victim, Onur Mete, says, 'I didn't hear the victim saying 'I'll blow myself up.' But those who were further away from the victim say, 'We heard.'

"From the beginning, when the governor made the 'suicide bombing' statement, the purpose was to close the case with impunity."

Mehmet Emin Aktar, another attorney of the family, also said it was a typical practice of impunity.

Citing the reports in the case file, he noted that about 20 police officers had fired in the air while Y.K. directly opened fire against Kurkut. (AS/VK)