Killing of Kemal Kurkut: Forensic Medicine Council Says He was Not Directly Shot by Police

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The eighth hearing of the case of Kemal Kurkut, who was shot dead by the police in 2017 Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakır province, has been held at Diyarbakır 7th Heavy Penal Court.

Defendant police officer Y.Ş., who is not remanded, his lawyer, the Kurkut family and their lawyers attended the hearing. There were also 15 police officers in the courtroom.

The expert report sent by İstanbul Council of Forensic Medicine, a state agency affiliated with the Ministry of Justice, was read out in the hearing. The report said that the bullet fired by the police entered Kurkut's body after bouncing from "a hard ground."

A previous report by the National Criminal Bureau, a private agency that provides expert reports to courts, had said that Kurkut was directly shot. It had concluded that police officer Y.Ş. killed Kurkut by directly shooting at him.

CLICK - Expert Report: Kemal Kurkut Shot in Targeted Killing

Reyhan Yalçındağ, an attorney of the Kurkut family, said it is "suspicious" that the two agencies stated different opinions on the killing.

"We think that the case is interfered with. We say this on the basis of the results of the cases where the law enforcement officers were the perpetrators. We also reserve our right to issue a further scientific report by forensic experts," he told Mezopotamya Agency.

Yalçındağ also requested the arrest of the defendant as he has not been imposed any sanctions.

The prosecutor's office requested that the case file be sent to it to write its opinion as to the accusations.

The court decided that the case file shall be sent to the prosecutor and to give time to the plaintiff to prepare a statement against the Council of Forensic Medicine report.

What happened?

Kemal Kurkut was shot dead by the police at the security checkpoint on Evrim Alataş street near Newroz Park in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakır province on March 21.

In the photos taken at the incident time, Kurkut was seen bare-chested quarreling with police at the checkpoint and starting to run passing through the checkpoint. As some police officers fire in the air, some fire on him.

Dihaber reported that Kurkut was shot despite a police chief ordering "Don't shoot".

Diyarbakır Governorship declared that Kurkut had a knife in his hand, he was "suspected to be a suicide attacker", and an investigation has been launched into the incident.

Born in Adıyaman, Kurkut was a student at İnönü University Fine Arts Faculty Department of Music.

His funeral was held on March 22 in Battalgazi district of Malatya province.

(HA/VK)