Police who killed child sentenced to prison in Turkey’s southeast

ŞIRNAK

A police officer who shot and killed a 12-year-old child in the Cizre district of the southeastern province of Şırnak has been sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison. 

The special operations police officer, Mehmet N.G., was sentenced by the Cizre First Court of Serious Crimes for killing Nihat Kazanhan, Doğan News Agency reported on Nov. 11.

The hearing was carried out with the participation of the bars of the southeastern provinces of Şırnak and Diyarbakır, Ankara, İstanbul and the western province of Manisa. Diyarbakır Bar Head Ahmet Özmen spoke in the courtroom, saying the perception that public officers can commit any crime with impunity has to stop. 

“We expect a historic ruling from you,” Özmen told the judge, while Şırnak Bar Head Nuşirevan Elçi said the fact that Kazanhan was not taken to a hospital after being shot showed that the crime was committed on purpose. 

A representative of the Istanbul Bar, Ayşenur Demirkale, also spoke at the hearing. “The state is obliged to protect the right to life. The investigation was carried out falsely,” she said. 

Five police officers, of whom one was tried with arrest, were tried in the case of the killing of the child on Jan. 14, 2015, which caused an outcry in social media and among opposition lawmakers.  

Three of the police officers were sentenced to five months of prison sentence for not conveying the crime while one of the officers was acquitted in the case.