The retrial of Hakan Avcı, the police officer who ran over civil engineer Cihan Can with an armoured bus in Amed (Diyarbakır) in 2019, started after the Court of Appeal overturned the fine given to him for "negligently causing death". While the defendant police officer Hakan Avcı did not attend the hearing held at Diyarbakır 11th Criminal Court of First Instance, the defendant's lawyer, Cihan Can's brothers Neytullah and Veysi Can and their lawyer Fuat Coşacak were present at the hearing.

 

The defence lawyer argued that his client apologised to the family during the trial, but this was not reflected in the minutes of the hearing and therefore the Court of Appeal referred to the defendant's lack of remorse in its reversal decision, and requested his client to attend the hearing via Voice and Video Information System (SEGBİS) in the next hearing.

 

Neytullah Can, on the other hand, demanded that the defendant be punished in the most severe way and requested the court to send the file to the Serious Criminal Court with a decision of lack of jurisdiction. Upon the request, the judge said, "The heavy penalty is different. It is over, period. The Court of Appeal said that there is no problem with the trial being held at the Criminal Court of First Instance."

 

Veysi Can also took the floor and demanded that the defendant be sentenced to the maximum penalty and requested to join the case.

 

Fuat Coşacak, the lawyer of the Can family, stated that they agree with the decision of the Regional Court of Appeals. Coşacak said, "It has been 4 years since the trial. Neither you nor we have seen the defendant's face. It is obvious that the defendant is not remorseful" and asked for the defendant to be sentenced at the maximum limit.

 

The prosecution also requested that the deficiencies in the file be eliminated.

 

The court decided to order the defendant to be present via SEGBİS in the next hearing, to examine the social and economic situation of the defendant and adjourned the trial to 30 April.

 

ABOUT THE CASE

 

Cihan Can was crushed to death by an armoured police bus driven by police officer Hakan Avcı on 27 December 2019 while crossing the street on Turgut Özal Boulevard in Amed. In the traffic accident report prepared by the traffic police on the same day, Avcı was found "primary" and Can was found "secondary fault". The police officer Avcu, who was detained after the incident, was released by Diyarbakır Criminal Judicature of Peace with a judicial control order. The first trial of the case against Avcu, on the charge of "causing death by negligence" with a jail sentence from 2 years to 6 years, is held at Diyarbakır Heavy Penal Court No 11 on October 16, 2020.

 

In the report prepared by the Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) Traffic Specialisation Department and included in the file on 18 May 2022, Avcı was found 80 percent at fault, but in another ATK report included in the file on 26 December 2022, he was found 100 percent "at fault" contrary to the "traffic accident report".

 

Despite this, at the final hearing held on 4 September 2023, the police officer was sentenced to 3 years in prison on the charge of "reckless killing". The court reduced the sentence by one-sixth and converted the reduced sentence into a fine of 21,200 TL.

 

After the verdict, Can's family lawyer applied to the Court of Appeal and appealed the verdict. Finding the decision of the local court "unlawful", the Court of Appeal accepted the request and overturned the case on 17 September 2024.