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ARMENIAN ORIGIN SOLDIER KILLED ACCIDENTALLY: COURT
Hurriyet, Turkey
March 27 2013
A Diyarbakır military judge sentenced yesterday a private to four years
and five months in prison for killing Armenian-Turkish soldier Sevag
Balıkcı with "conscious negligence," but stopped short of sentencing
the suspect to the more serious charge of deliberate murder.
"It seems my dear Sevag's life was that cheap, so killing is legal,"
the dead soldier's mother, Ani Balıkcı, told the Hurriyet Daily News
on the phone yesterday.
Ağaoğlu, who killed Balıkcı on April 24, 2011, will serve three years
in prison for killing Balıkcı "with a stray bullet."
In passing the sentence, the Diyarbakır Air Force Command Military
Court dismissed the Balıkcı family's lawyers' demands to sentence
Ağaoğlu on charges of deliberate murder. Ani Balıkcı and lawyer Cem
Halavurt said they would appeal at a higher court and would consider
carrying the case to the European Court of Human Rights if their
demands were not met. They will also hold a press conference on the
court verdict. "We are determined to continue our legal battle,"
Balıkcı said. "We may even take the case to the European Court of
Human Rights if we have to."
Activist Garo Paylan noted that the date of Balıkcı's killing was the
anniversary of April 24, the annual date recognized internationally for
remembering the victims of violence at the end of the Ottoman Empire.
"He was killed on an April 24 and it coincided with Easter, but
the judge did not pay heed to our warnings," Baylan said. "The
investigation should have been extended."
Paylan said Ağaoğlu's lawyers were expecting the decision.
"After the decision was announced, they made statements such as,
'The minorities are our brothers,'" Baylan said. "That was a decision
they had been expecting."
March/27/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/armenian-origin-soldier-killed-accidentally-court.aspx?pageID=238&nID=43720&NewsCatID=341
Hurriyet, Turkey
March 27 2013
A Diyarbakır military judge sentenced yesterday a private to four years
and five months in prison for killing Armenian-Turkish soldier Sevag
Balıkcı with "conscious negligence," but stopped short of sentencing
the suspect to the more serious charge of deliberate murder.
"It seems my dear Sevag's life was that cheap, so killing is legal,"
the dead soldier's mother, Ani Balıkcı, told the Hurriyet Daily News
on the phone yesterday.
Ağaoğlu, who killed Balıkcı on April 24, 2011, will serve three years
in prison for killing Balıkcı "with a stray bullet."
In passing the sentence, the Diyarbakır Air Force Command Military
Court dismissed the Balıkcı family's lawyers' demands to sentence
Ağaoğlu on charges of deliberate murder. Ani Balıkcı and lawyer Cem
Halavurt said they would appeal at a higher court and would consider
carrying the case to the European Court of Human Rights if their
demands were not met. They will also hold a press conference on the
court verdict. "We are determined to continue our legal battle,"
Balıkcı said. "We may even take the case to the European Court of
Human Rights if we have to."
Activist Garo Paylan noted that the date of Balıkcı's killing was the
anniversary of April 24, the annual date recognized internationally for
remembering the victims of violence at the end of the Ottoman Empire.
"He was killed on an April 24 and it coincided with Easter, but
the judge did not pay heed to our warnings," Baylan said. "The
investigation should have been extended."
Paylan said Ağaoğlu's lawyers were expecting the decision.
"After the decision was announced, they made statements such as,
'The minorities are our brothers,'" Baylan said. "That was a decision
they had been expecting."
March/27/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/armenian-origin-soldier-killed-accidentally-court.aspx?pageID=238&nID=43720&NewsCatID=341