Police officer who caused the death of 5-year-old Efe Tektekin acquitted

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The court has acquitted the police officer who hit 5-year-old child Efe Tektekin with an armored vehicle and caused his death in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır in 2019.

While the prosecutor's office demanded prison sentence for the defendant police officer, he has been acquitted of the offense charged.

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the ruling has been handed down in the trial over the death of 5-year-old Efe Tektekin, who was hit by an armored vehicle driven by the police officer while he was trying to go across the street on September 11, 2019.

Charged with "reckless killing", the officer had his final hearing at the Diyarbakır 9th Criminal Court of First Instance today (March 29).

Not arrested pending trial, defendant police officer İdris A. as well as his lawyer Alper Uğurlu, the lawyer of the Tektekin family Sedat Çınar and lawyers Kübra Nur Kartal and Ömer Sansarkan from the Diyarbakır Bar Association Child Rights Center were present in the courtroom.

In the latest report of the Forensic Medicine Institution, the police officer was found "partly negligent". Reiterating its final opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor's office demanded that the officer be sentenced to 2 years to 6 months in prison on charge of "reckless killing".

Speaking as to the accusations, the defendant police officer A. said, "I am sorry for what happened. I would like to say that I am in good conscience in this trial that has been going on for three years since I am not negligent. I am innocent. I request my acquittal".

The lawyer of the defendant also referred to the findings in the Forensic Medicine Institution, which has found officer A. "partly negligent" on the grounds that he did not show the necessary attention and care. The lawyer asked, "When the file is examined, it is understood that the client showed the necessary attention. What else should he have done?"

The lawyer of the police officer requested that a new report be prepared though this request had been rejected at the previous hearing; that the defendant be acquitted if this request was rejected; and the penalty to be imposed be reduced if the court thought the opposite.

Sedat Çınar, the lawyer of the Tektekin family, said that they agreed with the finding of "negligence" on the part of the defendant in the expert report which was prepared during the investigation process and as a result of the examination conducted at the scene of the incident.

Referring to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Constitutional Court rulings, the lawyer of the child's family added that they were of the opinion that "the right to life" was violated as to the procedural obligations imposed on the state in this trial.

With the defendant acquitted of the offense charged, the Tektekin family and the lawyers from the Diyarbakır Bar Association Child Rights Center, who were involved in the trial, have announced that they will take the ruling to the upper court. (AÖ/SD)