Kurdish family raise complaint of extrajudicial killing by police

A criminal complaint has been lodged against police filed for killing a Kurdish man in what is suspected to be an extrajudicial execution.

A Kurdish family has lodged a criminal complaint against two police officers who shot their 20-year son dead on Sunday.

The complaint was lodged with the help of a human rights organization, which believes there is concrete pieces of evidence of extrajudicial execution, the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya (MA) news agency reported on Wednesday.

Recep Hantas, a 20-year-old Kurdish, was shot dead on Sunday by police in a pre-dominantly Kurdish populated southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

Police are claiming the murder was “accidental”, while the governor said it happened as a result of “ignoring of the police’s warning.”

Hantas died at the scene, his body riddled with four bullets.

He sustained gunshot wounds to the head, the face, the chest, and the foot.

Apart from the contradictory statements over the cause of death and the number of shots, the suspicions Hantas’ family were raised as they identified their son’s body.

During the identification procedure in the mortuary, they realized that the bullets had been fired from close range, according to a report by T24 news.

Additionally, the family reportedly stated that the police were constantly encouraging their son to spy on fellow young men with whom he associated.

Warrants of arrest 

Warrants of arrest for the two police officers were issued by the Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor’s Office, but the court ruled one officer was to be arrested, while the other was released under judicial control.

Like the family, the Diyarbakir Office of the Human Rights Association (IHD), which has helped the family in their legal struggle, is also suspicious of the killing, claiming there is concrete evidence of a police execution.

“It is crystal clear how the incident took place from information and documentation in the [official] investigation file that we have obtained and examined,” the IHD claimed in a written statement published on Wednesday.

The IHD said it found the statement by the Diyarbakir Governor’s Office, published barely hours after the shooting, to be intentionally protective of the police officers.

The governor’s statement had come earlier than the official statement on the investigation and the family’s statement.

Video of shoot to kill

“It can be seen clearly from the video recordings of the incident that the police shoot to kill an unarmed and defenseless victim from behind, as he was running to escape,” the IHD argued.

Shrapnel pieces in the deceased body, recorded in the official autopsy report, indicate that a heavy caliber had been used by the police, according to the IHD.

The IHD called on the authorities to carry out an efficient and swift investigation into the incident.

Semra Guzel, a lawmaker of the opposition pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), on Monday directed a parliamentary inquiry to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, questioning what happened during the incident.

A young Kurdish killed by Turkish police, who claim it was “accidental”

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from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2019/04/18/kurdish-family-raise-complaint-of-extrajudicial-killing-by-police/