Court: The shot that killed Festus Okey wasn't unintentional

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The İstanbul 21st Heavy Penal Court has announced its justified decision in the case of the killing of Festus Okey at the Beyoğlu Police Department in İstanbul 14 years ago.

Police officer Cengiz Yıldız, who shot Okey dead, was sentenced to 16 years and 8 months in prison for "deliberate killing" last month.

In the justified decision dated March 17, the court does not agree with the prosecutor's opinion, stating that the shooting of Okey cannot be considered as negligence and that the weapon of a police officer who is trained and has knowledge on weapon use wouldn't fire off against his will.

The Constitutional Court on March 10 ruled that Okey's right to life, as guaranteed by Article 17 of the Constitution, was violated on procedural and material grounds. Tochukwu Gamaliah Ögu, the sibling of Festus Okey, will be paid the court expenses and 80 thousand lira in non-pecuniary damages, according to the top court ruling.

"His finger was on the trigger"

The prosecutor had demanded the officer be convicted for negligent killing as per Turkish Penal Code Article 85/1, which stipulates a prison sentence of 2 to 6 years.

Not agreeing with the prosecutor's opinion, the court stated that there was not an incident that could be considered negligence. "There was no happening such as rotating the weapon in the hand ... feeding a bullet into the barrel and firing it, cleaning and the firing of the weapon involuntarily during one of these happenings."

The court also stated that the incident couldn't be considered as killing with negligence but killing with eventual intent.

"Taking into account that there was no hostility between the defendant and the deceased, the sudden development of the incident and the way it occurred, it cannot be considered as killing with direct intention," it said.

It also noted that the police officer's finger was on the trigger while Okey was on his knees in a "semi-ineffective state."

"... In the incident that occurred by the defendant acting recklessly and applying 3.5 kilograms of pressure to the trigger, it has been accepted by our court that the defendant, while not wanting the possible outcome, took the risk and accepted it and consequently caused the death of the deceased and because of that the act of the defendant constitutes the crime of killing with eventual intent..."

Sentence reduction

The court first gave a life sentence to Yıldız as per article 81/1 of the Turkish Penal Code. Then "taking into account the quality of the crime, the way it was committed, the course of events, and the stipulated sanctions," it ruled that the sentence should be reduced as per Article 21/2 of the Turkish Penal Code and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

It then reduced the sentence to 16 years and 8 months, "considering the possible impact of the sentence on the future of the defendant." (AS/VK)