Acquittal for death by beating at the police station!
Seven police officers who were tried in the killing of 24-year-old Mustafa Kükçe, who was detained on charges of theft seven years ago in Ümraniye, Istanbul, and allegedly taken to three police stations and beaten to death, were acquitted.
ISTANBUL - The case, which was opened two years after Mustafa Kükçe’s death and has been ongoing for five years, was concluded on October 16 at the Istanbul Anatolian 5th High Criminal Court. The court acquitted the seven police officers who were tried as defendants on the grounds that ‘they had not committed the crime’.
THREE POLICE STATIONS WERE VISITED
Mustafa Kükçe was 24 years old when he was detained on June 14, 2007. He was living in a shanty house with his father in Ümraniye. He was the father of three children. They were poor. He did not have a regular job. He was detained that day on charges of theft. Taken to three different police stations, Kükçe experienced the following in his last three days:
* On the first day, he was taken to Ümraniye Şehit Sevgican Police Station, then to Dudullu Şehit İsmail Akkoyun Police Station. The next day, he was brought to Çakmak Police Station after a theft report. According to the police, he fainted and fell to the ground while getting out of the vehicle.
* While he was inside, his family was in front of the police station. According to his cousin Ali Yılmaz, they were sworn at, insulted, and punched. They were called “dirty Gypsies” and “dirty Alevis.”
* He was taken to Ümraniye State Hospital at 16:40. According to the police, Kükçe resisted getting out of the vehicle, threw himself on the ground and lay down. His examination revealed bruises and swelling.
* There was a grave contradiction: While the police said, “We have obtained surveillance permission,” according to the report sent to the prosecutor’s office by the Police Department, there was no detention record. In other words, ‘unregistered detention’ was implemented. The response to the request, “Send the footage from the camera in the detention center,” was, “Our camera is broken.”
‘LIKE A DEAD DOG...’
* Kükçe was taken to Ümraniye Courthouse that evening, while his family gathered in front of the courthouse. According to Ali Yılmaz, Kükçe was taken to the prosecutor’s office in the arms of four police officers: “He couldn’t walk. He was in very bad shape. They dragged him like a dead dog.”
* When Kükçe was in front of Prosecutor Faruk Sarıoğlu, Lawyer Abdulaziz Levent was with him. Levent also did not see Kükçe healthy: “He was brought in the arms of the police officers. He could not stand. He gave his statement sitting down. When the prosecutor asked, ‘Did they beat you?’ he said, ‘I have high blood pressure.’”
* He was arrested. On the way out, he told his mother, “Mom, don’t cry, come after me.”
* Ümraniye Prison Chief Officer Binali Karadağ also witnessed Kükçe being unable to stand.
* When he could not stand up for the count on June 16, he was taken to Haydarpaşa Numune Hospital. But it was too late...
* His family found his son in the morgue. One of the first to see his body was Ali Yılmaz: “There were swollen and open wounds on his knees. I saw a wound on his left shoulder and a bloody swelling in his right groin. The tips of his hands were pitch black. There were marks on his arms. One of his testicles had burst.”
* Family Lawyer Eren Keskin filed a complaint. However, the investigation was problematic from the start. Prosecutor Faruk Sarıoğlu, who was to investigate the suspicious death, had signed the decision to arrest Kükçe a few days ago.
* An investigation was opened into seven police officers for ‘torture, causing death as a result of torture and abuse of office’. The file was sent to the Forensic Medicine Department on December 12, 2007 to determine whether the death was caused by assault and, if so, how long before the assault occurred. The file waited for 10 months at the Forensic Medicine 1st Specialization Board.
‘A FALL FROM A HEIGHT MAY HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE’
* The report was completed on August 20, 2008. In the conclusion section, it was emphasized that the traumatic marks detected could have been the result of maltreatment, as well as a fall or impact; that the death was caused by a brain hemorrhage, and that “it is more consistent with a fall from a height.” The report noted that the brain hemorrhage could have occurred 2-5 days before death.
* The investigation was completed 1.5 years after death, on December 4, 2008. The prosecutor, basing his argument on the forensic medicine report that it was “more consistent with falling from a height” and that “the trauma that led to death occurred 2-5 days before”, argued that the incident occurred before the detention. He claimed that the bruises were not due to torture but “caused by Kükçe throwing himself to the ground and his lack of balance”.
While the police officers were given a ‘non-prosecution’ decision, the bill was given to the four doctors who could not detect the brain hemorrhage and an investigation was opened for ‘abuse of office’.
A PRISON OF UP TO 16 YEARS WAS REQUESTED, BUT...
* However, his family did not give up their search for justice. They appealed to the Kadıköy 3rd High Criminal Court, a higher court, on January 8, 2009.
* The court overturned the ‘non-prosecution’ decision on February 16, 2009 and requested that the police officers be tried on the grounds that there was ‘sufficient suspicion’. The file was sent to the Üsküdar Public Prosecutor’s Office.
* The Üsküdar Chief Public Prosecutor filed a lawsuit on the charge of ‘exceeding the limit of the authority to use force and intentionally wounding a public official in a manner that would cause death’ in the indictment he prepared on March 18. The police officers were tried with a request for up to 16 years in prison.
The Istanbul Anatolian 5th High Criminal Court concluded the case on October 16. Since it was not proven that they committed the crime, a
decision of acquittal was made.
İSMAİL SAYMAZ
