Police Officer Arrested in Ethem Sarısülük Case

Ankara 6^th High Criminal Court arrested Ahmet Şahbaz, a police officer who has been standing trial for killing Ethem Sarısülük during the Gezi Resistance in Ankara on June 1, 2013. 

The ruling was executed after the prosecutor requested the arrest of Şahbaz for “premeditated murder”. According to this, he is now facing prison sentence from 20 to 25 years. 

Şahbaz in the courtroom

During the hearing yesterday, Ahmet Şahbaz was also present in the courthouse - a situation that didn’t happen in some of the previous trials due to security measures. 

Plaintfiff advocate Kazım Bayraktar objected to a closed hearing, saying that rising of tensions on previous hearings happened due to high security measures. 

The shooting of Ethem Sarısülük was recorded and released on YouTube on July 9, 2013. 

The aforementioned video entitled “I pulled it and fired 3 times” was submitted to the court in December 4, 2013. 

Advocate Yılmaz: Şahbaz must be handcuffed 

“Even if you apply a lower limit in this case, that makes 16 years and 8 months of prison. Therefore, the defendant must be arrested and handcuffed. If he goes out from this courthouse freely, it would mean killing Ethem Sarısülük and his family again. 6^th High Criminal Court will never be forgotten,” plaintiff advocate Murat Yılmaz said. 

Defense attorneys: Their aims is prolong the trial 

Defense advocates, on the other hand, claimed that the photo request for expert report aimed to prolong the trial process.

“The person on the aforementioned video is our client Ahmet Şahbaz,” they said.  

The court penal also issued an extra defense time for Şahbaz, saying that Turkish Penal Code Article 266 on “using public resources for committing crime” might have been violated. While the defendant and its attorneys declared that they would reiterate their statement, the next hearing was set to September 3. (HK/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.