Şemdinli incident ‘not organized’

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

The Supreme Court of Appeals overruled a court verdict regarding the arrest of non-commissioned officers Özcan İldeniz, Ali Kaya and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) confessor Veysel Ateş for “forming a criminal organization” in a court case on the explosion at Umut Bookstore on Nov. 9, 2005 in the Şemdinli district of the southeastern province of Hakkari.

The Supreme Court did, however, confirm the prison sentences the suspects received for homicide. The court will later announce its justified verdict and the high criminal court where the case was tried will revise its own verdict according to the Supreme Court of Appeal’s provision.

On Nov. 9, 2005, an explosion at a bookstore killed one and injured five people. Angry locals stopped a car at the scene with the claim that the bomber was in the vehicle. The police took three men in the car – Kaya and İldeniz, two noncommissioned officers, and Ateş an alleged PKK informant– into custody. Investigators found rifles, official documents and hand grenades in the car. A list with the bombed bookstore marked with a red cross was also found in the car. The owner of the bookstore Seferi Yılmaz was a former PKK member who had done time in prison and is currently on trial for aiding and abetting the PKK.