Aggravated life sentence in the Hiranur Aygar case, 4 months imprisonment for the other defendants: 'We will continue our struggle'

Defendant Hüseyin Arda Ş. in the case regarding the death of Hiranur Aygar (16), who was shot with an unlicensed firearm in his friends' vehicle in Mersin. (19) was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a child with possible intent and 2 years in prison for possession of an unlicensed weapon.

Mustafa Z. (27) and Nazmi Ç, who were in the vehicle at the time of the murder. (20) was sentenced to 4 months in prison for destroying, concealing or altering criminal evidence; The announcement of the verdict was postponed. Both defendants were released.

After the upper court overturned the decision, the case was heard again in the 18th Criminal Chamber of the Adana Regional Court of Justice. At the last hearing, the prosecutor requested that the defendant Hüseyin Arda Ş. be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for direct premeditated murder.

At the hearing held yesterday, the court heard Hüseyin Arda Ş. Aggravated life imprisonment for "qualified intentional murder", Mustafa Z. and Nazmi Ç. He sentenced him to 4 months in prison for "destroying, concealing or altering criminal evidence".

Speaking to Cumhuriyet after the hearing, volunteer lawyers of Women's Solidarity Committees and Children and Women First Association, Derya Demir and Hüseyin Arda Ş. Stating that they welcomed the decision made against him, he said, "This was an important step in our 13-month struggle. We truly think that this decision relieves the conscience of the society."

However, criticizing the fact that the sentences given to the other two defendants were not increased, Demir said, "The other part of the decision is of course not in a way that we can accept. No penalty increase was made for the other two defendants."

"WE CAN APPLY TO THE Constitutional Court"

Arguing that an effective investigation was not carried out during the trial process, Demir said that there was evidence in the file indicating that the defendants' statements did not reflect the truth.

Demir said, "We have been saying this from the very beginning; we are actually faced with this decision today because an effective investigation could not be carried out in this trial. There was very clear evidence in the file that the defendants were not telling the truth. We think that we have demonstrated with the scope of the file that the incident did not occur as they claimed, such as the fact that there was no cartridge at the scene and no gunshot was heard."

Stating that they think that the defendants made false statements to get away with the crime, Demir said, "We think that the other defendants also participated in the murder of Hiranur. We will continue our objections on this issue."

Demir said, "Effective application and effective investigation were not implemented in this case. A lot of evidence was destroyed due to the incomplete, even very incomplete, investigation. After the decision is finalized, we are considering applying to the Constitutional Court on behalf of Hiranur's mother."