On April 14, 2017, at the exit of the Kent Forest in Istanbul’s Gazi neighborhood, five children between the ages of 15 and 18 were in a vehicle at which police officers opened fire on the grounds the driver had failed to comply with a police command to stop. As a result of the shooting, Oğuzhan Erkul and Barış Kerem were killed, while Demirhan Erkul, Ramazan Altürk, and Birkan Yüksel were injured.

Following an investigation conducted under a confidentiality order and a publication ban, police officers Erkan Ekmekci, Kenan Akıl, Zafer Sağlam, and Davut Bakır were charged with causing the death and injury of multiple persons through conscious negligence.

The first hearing took place before the Istanbul 1st Assize Court on 21 March 2018. At the second hearing on 27 June 2018, the surviving children gave testimony in the presence of a child psychologist, who did not attend the first hearing. At the hearing on 8 November 2018, police radio records from the day of the incident were added to the case file. At the same hearing, it was also found that the statements given by the police officers when they testified before the court contradicted the statements they previously gave to the police.

At the hearing on 14 March 2019, the court granted the victims’ lawyers’ request for a site inspection. The inspection was carried out between hearings, but the expert report was not submitted to the court by the next hearing on 27 June 2019.

At the hearing on 26 September 2019, the court noted that the expert report prepared following the site inspection had been received. Defence counsel was given time to review the report and submit observations. Lawyers representing the victims pointed out that the footage and video recordings previously requested by the court related to 2018 rather than 2017, the year of the incident, and requested that the Forensic Medicine Institute be contacted again to obtain the correct recordings. The court accepted this request.

At the hearing on 13 February 2020, forensic expert Prof. Ümit Biçer testified that all injuries were caused by shots fired from behind the vehicle and from both sides, findings that were consistent with witness accounts. Counsel for the victims stated that a total of 35 spent cartridges were recovered at the scene, 23 of which corresponded to shots that struck the vehicle. They argued that the gunfire was concentrated around the boot and rear window, areas corresponding to the occupants’ vital organs, and therefore the incident should be assessed as intentional killing rather than negligence. The court subsequently referred the file to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for preparation of the prosecutor’s opinion on the merits. 

At the hearing on 10 July 2020, the court rejected requests for further evidentiary proceedings and announced that the prosecutor’s opinion on the merits had been submitted. In that opinion, the prosecutor argued that the defendants were acting in the course of carrying out a lawful duty but had exceeded the limits of lawful conduct by breaching their duty of care. The prosecutor therefore requested that Erkan Ekmekci, Zafer Sağlam, Davut Bakır, and Kenan Akıl be convicted under Article 85(2) of the Turkish Penal Code for causing the death and injury of multiple persons through conscious negligence, that their sentences be increased pursuant to Article 22(3) because of conscious negligence, and that additional restrictions on certain civil rights be imposed.

At the hearing on 18 December 2020, the parties were granted additional time to submit observations on the prosecutor’s opinion on the merits.

At the final hearing on 5 February 2021, the mothers of Oğuzhan Erkul and Barış Kerem, their lawyers, and defence counsel presented their final submissions. Lawyers for the victims argued that the defendants’ accounts were inconsistent, that the number and direction of the shots and their concentration on the vehicle’s lethal zones demonstrated that the officers had deliberately targeted the car, and that the incident could not reasonably be characterised as negligence. They further alleged that the officers failed to call an ambulance, prepared inaccurate official records, and attempted to conceal evidence.

Defence counsel argued that it was impossible for the officers to know that the occupants were children before the vehicle was stopped and requested that the court apply the provisions on negligence.

The court convicted police officers Erkan Ekmekci, Kenan Akıl, Zafer Sağlam, and Davut Bakır of causing the death and injury of multiple persons through conscious negligence and sentenced each of them to six years’ imprisonment. The prison sentences were subsequently converted into judicial fines of TRY 24,300 each, payable in 24 equal installments.

The judgment was appealed by the defendants, the victims, and the public prosecutor. On 24 March 2022, the 19th Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Appeal found no procedural or substantive error in the first-instance judgment. It held that the evidence and proceedings were sufficient, that the legal characterisation of the offence was correct, and that the fine imposed was appropriate. The court therefore dismissed all appeals. For these reasons, it dismissed all appeals. As the judgment was not subject to review by the Court of Cassation due to the length of the sentence, it thus became final.