No arrest for Armenian soldier’s killer

DİYARBAKIR - Doğan News Agency

A military court in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır ruled Jan. 30 to continue without arrest the trial of suspect Kıvanç Ağaoğlu in the case of Sevag Şahin Balıkçı, a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin killed under dubious circumstances while performing his military service in 2011.

“While I was drawing barbed wire in a tilted position, I heard the sound of a G3 rifle cocking. Then I heard the sound of a gunshot. When I turned my head and looked, [I saw] Ağaoğlu standing with his G3 weapon pointing at Sevag Şahin Balıkçı. Balıkçı then dropped to the ground,” eyewitness Halil Ekşi said in his most recent testimony.

A court delegation decided to turn down the request for suspect Ağaoğlu to be tried under arrest through a majority vote.

Upon the request of the Chief Justice, Ekşi also demonstrated the incident inside the courtroom with a G3 rifle, the standard issue infantry rifle used in the Turkish military. The Diyarbakır Second Air Force Command Military Tribunal had decided to reschedule the last hearing for Jan. 30 after Ekşi changed his testimony regarding the circumstances under which Balıkçı lost his life on April 24, 2011, the same date regarded as the anniversary of the 1915 events.