Brother of Dilek Doğan, killed in Istanbul police raid, detained during hearing

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

The brother of Dilek Doğan, a young woman who was killed during an anti-terror raid on her house last year, was detained during the hearing into the case on April 20, while the judge ruled to hold future hearings behind closed doors.  

Doğan’s brother Mazlum Doğan was taken out of the courtroom at Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse after shouting slogans in reaction to the witness’ testimonies. He was later detained during a brawl that broke out after the judge’s decision to hold the trial closed to the public. 

“I’ll ruin you. I’ll get justice. I’ll kill his children. I’ll kill you too. I’ll come back and the killer policeman will pay for this,” Doğan allegedly shouted, referring to the suspect, his lawyer and the court committee.

Relatives of the plaintiff and several people in the court then took him outside, while the court decided to hold the trial closed. Doğan was then detained along with a number of others, while the family’s lawyers tried to calm down those at the courtroom shouting slogans. 

Two lawyers of the Doğan family, Barkın Timtik and Günay Dağ, were also detained, while the family asked people still in the courtroom not to leave the hearing. 

The defendant, the plaintiff’s lawyers and Doğan’s family were allowed to reenter the courtroom after the judge’s decision, following the declaration of a recess. 

“I heard Dilek Doğan insulting my chief. I wasn’t inside and the chief had his back to me. I saw Mehmet Doğan [Doğan’s brother] pushing my chief,” said the witness in the hearing, a police officer identified only by the initials G.D.

The suspect, identified only as Y.M., did not attend the hearing, while Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies Hilmi Yarayıcı and Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi were in attendance. The mother and father of Berkin Elvan, the youngest victim of the 2013 anti-government Gezi Park protests who was killed by police aged 15, were also there. 

The hearing also witnessed a screening of footage of the moment when Doğan was shot, it was reported. 

The next hearing in the case is due to take place on May 30, 2016. 

Meanwhile, 13 people who wanted to stage a sit-in in front of the courthouse before the hearing were also detained by police. 

Dilek Doğan was shot on Oct. 18, 2015, when Istanbul police conducted operations at 16 addresses to purportedly apprehend an alleged suicide bomber of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) in Istanbul’s Küçükarmutlu neighborhood.

While policemen were searching the Doğan family’s house in Küçükarmutlu, special operations police officer Y.M. allegedly shot 26-year-old Dilek Doğan with his rifle after she insisted that officers put on galoshes to avoid dirtying the floor.  

Doğan died at a hospital in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood on Oct. 25 after a week in a coma.

The police officer claimed in his testimony that the family prevented them from entering and provoked them.
 
The prosecutor in the case demanded between 20 and 26.5 years in jail for Y.M.