Prison Sentence for ‘Insulting President’ in Ankara Massacre Case
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Çağlayan Bozacı, the son of Turan Bozacı, who lost his life together with 102 others in the explosion in front of Ankara Train Station on October 10, 2015, has been sentenced to 11 months, 20 days in prison on the ground that he "insulted" President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Çağlayan Bozacı has been given this prison sentence due to his criticisms against Erdoğan in October 10 Ankara Massacre case.
Bozacı had his final hearing at the Ankara Western 5th Penal Court of First Instance yesterday (November 13). As reported by Burcu Yıldırım from daily Cumhuriyet, his lawyers indicated that none of his statements about President Erdoğan violated any democratic principles, underlining that these statements fall with freedom of thought and expression.
Announcing its verdict, the court ruled that Çağlayan Bozacı should be sentenced to 12 months in prison. Considering his attitude and behavior in the hearings, the court has reduced his prison sentence to 11 months, 20 days. The prison sentence has not been deferred.
Lawyer Işık: It is legally, conscientiously unacceptable
Speaking about the verdict of the court, İlke Işık, one of the attorneys of Çağlayan Bozacı, has stated,
"It is legally and conscientiously unacceptable and incomprehensible that Çağlayan Bozacı, who lost his father Osman Turan Bozacı in October 10 Ankara Massacre, has been sentenced to prison due to the statements that he made about the president as a complainant in the final hearing.
"Is our client, whose only concern is a demand for justice in the massacre committed by the ISIS in the middle of Ankara, punished by saying 'Why do you want justice'? The remarks uttered in the court hall have caused our client to be a defendant, but all responsible parties of the massacre have not yet become defendants."
October 10 massacreA suicide attack was launched against the Peace Rally in Ulus, Altındağ in the capital city of Ankara at around 10.04 a.m. on October 10, 2015. While 69 people lost their lives at the scene of incident, a total of 103 people and two attackers lost their lives. The peace rally participants who lost their lives in the massacre are: Abdülkadir Uyan, Metin Kürklü, Gökhan Akman, Orhan Işıktaş, Gülhan Karlı Elmascan, Yılmaz Elmascan, Nevzat Sayan, Bilgen Parlak, Hacı Kıvrak, Rıdvan Akgül, Rıdvan Akgül, Hacı Mehmet Şah Esin, Gökmen Dalmaç, Elif Kanlıoğlu, Hakan Dursun Akalın, Ercan Adsız, Ayşe Deniz, Berna Koç, Fatma Esen, Gülbahar Aydeniz, Eren Akın, Canberk Bakış, Tayfun Benol, Nizamettin Bağcı, Kasım Otur, Başak Sidar Çevik, Nilgün Çevik, Resul Yanar, Mehmet Ali Kılıç, Tekin Arslan, Sezen Vurmaz, Dilaver Karharman, Onur Tan, Umut Tan, Sarıgül Tüylü, Dilan Sarıkaya, Ali Kitapçı, İsmail Kızılçay, Muhammet Demir, Korkmaz Tedik, Veysel Atılgan, İbrahim Atılgan, Emine Ercan, Kübra Meltem Mollaoğlu, Meryem Bulut, Seyhan Yaylagül, Ebru Mavi, Ali Deniz Uzatmaz, Ziya Saygın, Vahdettin Özgan, Cemal Avşar, Ahmet Katurlu, Selim Örs, Azize Onat, Dicle Deli, Güney Doğan, Binali Korkmaz, Mehmet Zakir Karabulut, Leyla Çiçek, Metin Peşman, Mesut Mak, Adil Gür, Gökhan Gökbönü, Şebnem Yurtman, Osman Turan Bozacı, İdil Güneyi, Abdullah Erol, Mehmet Hayta, Özver Gökhan Arpaçay, Şirin Kılıçalp, Uygar Coşgun, Ahmed Alkhadi, Nurullah Erdoğan, Gözde Arslan, Aycan Kaya, Yunus Delice, Sevgi Öztekin, Mehmet Tevfik Dalgıç, Sevim Şinik, Emin Aydemir, Fatma Karabulut, Ramazan Tunç, Erol Ekici, Feyyat Deniz, Necla Duran, Osman Ervasa, Ramazan Çalışkan, Vedat Erkan, Abdülbari Şenci, Niyazi Büyüksütçü, Gazi Güray, Sabri Elmas, Erhan Avcı, Ümit Seylan, Serdar Ben, Nevzat Özbilgi, Hasan Baykara, Fatma Batur, Bedriye Batur, Ata Önder Atabay, Mustafa Budak, Ağa Bayar. After the bombs exploded, police officers used pepper gas on the wounded and the ones trying to held them. As a result of this intervention, the wounded could not be referred to hospitals quickly and the survivors were also traumatized by this intervention. The scene of incident was not placed under protection, crime scene investigation teams and prosecutors did not come to the scene immediately. The teams arrived after 1.5 hours and deputy public prosecutor after 2.5 hours. The indictment concerning the attack was approved on July 13, 2016. The indictment stated that the attack order was given by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's (ISIS) representative to Turkey İlhami Balı. It was stated in the indictment that it was the same people who organized the Suruç attack, which killed 33 people. 14 suspects including Balı face from 5,083 to 7,820 years in prison on charges of "attempted murder for multiple times" and "attempting to annihilate constitutional order". The trial started on November 7, 2016 and still continues. The families of the deceased hold a commemoration ceremony on the 10th day of every month in front of the Train Station. |
(TP/SD)