MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – On June 19,2017, police officer Burhan Kolbaşı, the driver of the armored vehicle carrying the special operation forces members returning from an operation launched in Diyarbakır’s Lice district, drove  above the speed limit and caused the death of three people, including a child, on Diyarbakır-Bingöl Highway. The names of villagers, who lost their lives, are Remzi Menteşe (36), Zilan Yamankılıç (10) and İlhan Ayaş (37).

Prison sentence was replaced by a fine

Police officer Burhan Kolbaşı was sentenced to four years and two months in prison on charges of “intentionally causing the death of more than one person”. However, the prison sentence was replaced by a fine of 45, 600 Turkish lira. The Court of Cassation reversed the judgment and sent the court file back to the local court to take permission from the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office in order to launch an investigation into the incident. However, the Diyarbakır Governor's Office claimed that the accident occurred due to the tire blowout and did not allow an investigation to be launched into the incident. The lawyers of victims applied to the Administrative Court against the decision of the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office.

Expert report found the police officer “totally fault”

While two reports were prepared into the incident as part of the investigation launched by the police officer Burhan Kolbaşı, the expert report found the police officer “totally fault”. Upon the objection of the parties to the expert report, another expert report was prepared on March 29, 2018. The report said that the accident occurred as a result of a “technical failure (the tire blowout)”. Taking the second report into account, the Diyarbakır 3rd Criminal Court imposed a fine on the police officer, who killed three people, on September 15, 2020.

Then, the Court of Cassation overturned the fine on the grounds that no permission was taken by the governor’s office to launch the investigation. The retrial was held by the local court and the local court sent the court file to the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office last year in April to take permission from the governor’s office in order to launch an investigation into the incident again. After months, the governor’s office did not allow an investigation to be launched against the police officer.

The lawyers of the victims applied to the Administrative Court

The lawyers of the victims objected to the decision of the governor’s office and applied to the Diyarbakır Administrative Court to be sent to the Antep Regional Administrative Court for the reversal of the decision. “They do their best to absolve the police officer,” the lawyers said in an interview.