Top army figure fined for injuring civilian by negligence

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

Two top army personnel were each ordered to pay 3,000 Turkish Lira ($1,100) fines by a Diyarbakır military court on June 26 on the charge of “abuse of power by negligence on duty” after a man lost his right hand after a military bomb exploded eight years ago.

Diyarbakır 7th Corps Command Military Court ordered Colonel Barbaros Kasar and top commander Serhat Demirtaş to each pay 3,000 liras in a case filed after Kadri Ceyhan, 24, lost his right hand in military bomb blast on Mar. 18, 2007 in the Şölen village in Ergani, a district in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

Ceyhan’s attorney Muhterem Süren said they would appeal the ruling to the Supreme Military Court of Appeals and claim 200,000 liras compensation from the Turkish Interior Ministry.

The military prosecutor who headed the case said Kasar’s negligence and latency caused Ceyhan’s injury, because he failed to inform his superiors about missing unexploded ammunition. 

At the time, the area where the bomb exploded was being used for military drills by troops under the command of Kasar, while Demirtaş served a military commander under Kasar’s command.

The military prosecutor also said Kasar did not follow up on his order to collect an unexploded T-40 rifle bomb that had been reported missing after a military drill in which the bomb blast occurred. 

Demirtaş did not follow orders to find the missing ammunition, the prosecutor said, demanding a penalty of six months to two years in prison for Kasar and Demirtaş on the charge of “abuse of power by negligence on duty.”

Following a quick break in the hearing, the prosecutor lowered his previously demanded prison time to five months and then converted the sentences into 3,000 lira-fines. The court also allowed for the guilty to pay their fines in 20 installments.