Turkish man shot dead by Belgian police

BRUSSELS – Anadolu Agency

A Turkish man in Belgium has been shot dead by police, Belgian media has reported.

Cemil Kaya, 45, reportedly got into an argument with police after being stopped for holding a knife on a street in the eastern Belgian town of Verviers on the morning of Jan. 7, Belgium’s public broadcaster Radio Télévision Belge Francophone reported. He was then shot in the chest.

Turkey’s Consul General in Brussels, Ali Barış Ulusoy, said he would visit the town of Verviers where Kaya was killed.

Civil society groups, human rights watchdogs and international bodies have in recent years criticized Belgian detention practices, including the detention of children, the use of “transit zone detention centers,” and the lack of provision of adequate information to detainees about their legal rights.

In 2006, the Council of Europe’s Committee on the Prevention of Torture (CPT) criticized the Belgian police for its use of plastic wrist ties.