Officer compensated 60,000TL for false imprisonment

İZMİR - Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

A police officer who served four months in prison in 2007 for charges in connection with the sale of drugs near schools in the Turkish city of İzmir was given 60,000 Turkish Liras in compensation following his acquittal.

Recep Özmen was one of 36 detainees in the operation, 14 of which were arrested after the trial. Özmen spent four months in prison until the court acquitted and released him.
Özmen thereafter filed a lawsuit against the treasury for compensation totaling 70,000 liras. He claimed the legal procedure tainted his public image, causing people to falsely accuse him of being a drug addict. According to Özmen, his son also suffered at school over his father’s false imprisonment, being taunted and left out by his friends, and began to experience speech difficulties.

“I suffered from all of this,” Özmen said.

Özmen was posted to several new locations before being assigned to Izmir again after filing a lawsuit to halt the ongoing reassignments, where he cited emotional distress and public exclusion as results of his false imprisonment.

Özmen was granted 70,000 liras in compensation following the trial, however, the Ministry of Finance representatives appealed the ruling. In the second round of the legal battle, the Supreme Court of Appeals overruled the previous decision, reducing Özmen’s compensation by 10,000 liras.
 
Özmen was granted a final total of 60,000 liras of compensation.