Top court reverses judgement in Gezi victim case

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals has reversed the judgement of a local court in the case of Gezi victim Ali İsmail Korkmaz, who was beaten to death during the Gezi Park demonstrations in 2013.

The Supreme Court of Appeals' 1st Penal Chamber reversed the judgement on Feb. 4 on the grounds that police officer Mevlüt Saldoğan’s plea rights had been violated, as the defendant had not been asked for his final statement in the judgement summary, or given an additional plea when the classification of the offense was changed. The court asked the Kayseri 3rd Court of Serious Crimes to review the mispleadings.

The Kayseri 3rd Court of Serious Crimes had initially sentenced Saldoğan to 13 years in prison but reduced the sentence to 10 years and 10 months. The other police officer sentenced in the case, Yalçın Akbulut, also received a reduction from 12 years to 10 years. The other defendants in the case, civilians İsmail Koyuncu, Ramazan Koyuncu and Muhammet Vatansever, were given six years and eight months in prison each, while Ebubekir Harlar’s sentence was reduced to three years and four months.

Police officers Şaban Gökpınar and Hüseyin Engin had been acquitted.

Korkmaz, 19, was beaten to death by a group of officers and civilians in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir during the 2013 Gezi protests.