RIGHT TO LIFE

In the hearing on last Friday (20 November) the Elazığ 8^th Army Corps Commandership in eastern Turkey convicted Lieutenant Mehmet Tümer for causing the deaths of 4 soldiers, namely İbrahim Yaman, Ibrahim Öztürk, Ali Osman Altın and Mesut Bulut. Tümer had made Öztürk hold on to a hand grenade of which Tümer had removed the pin before. The lieutenant received a 9 years and 2 months prison sentence.

Approximately 2 hours of discussing the basic aspects of the case, the court found lieutenant Tümer guilty of "causing the death of more than one person by deliberate negligence". Initially, the court handed down an 8 years prison sentence, which was then increased to 11 years but was finally set to 9 years and 2 months.

The families of the victims had claimed the maximum penalty for Tümer. Özgür Murat Büyük, lawyer of the family of İbrahim Öztürk, to whom Tümer gave the grenade, had demanded to sue the lieutenant under charges of "killing with probable intention". Büyük told bianet that in such a trial the punishment would come out much higher.

For his defence Tümer claimed that what he did was not a "punishment" but an "opportunity of education".

Lethal punishment

Sergeant Yaman and privates Öztürk, Altın and Bulut were killed in the incident on 17 August in the Elazığ Karakoca Battalion. Tümer has been detained in a military prison since 18 August.

Tümer stated that he gave Öztürk the live grenade in order to educate him because he had slept on duty. The lieutenant admitted that Öztürk came twice to ask the removed pin back but Tümer refused. He balmed that on the fact of his inexperience since he had only be lieutanant for 56 days then and he apologized for the incident.

Bedir Bulut, uncle of killed private Bulut, stated in the previous hearing on 11 November that he did not believe in an accident. He said that when Tümer gave the grenade to Öztürk he apparently said, "Now go from post to post, let them see what kind of person I became". (TK/VK)