Ahmet Kaymaz, 30, and his 12-year-old son Uğur were shot dead by the police officers outside their home in Mardin's Kızıltepe district on Nov. 21, 2004. The defendants claimed that in the dark they had mistaken the ethnic Kurdish victims as terrorists and shot at them in self-defense. However, an investigation established that the incident did not take place after nightfall.
Security forces said they were pursuing members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and that the two ethnic Kurdish victims were shot in an exchange of gunfire. The family denied any links with the PKK and said the father and son were unarmed when they were killed.
In May 2007 a court in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir acquitted the policemen, saying the officers were defending themselves and that there was no reason to punish them, prompting the Kaymaz family to appeal the ruling.
Many human rights groups viewed the trial as a test of whether European Union membership candidate Turkey is able to hold police accountable for their actions.
The top court's approval of the ruling was a disappointment to the Kaymaz family, who said that they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
Reşat Kaymaz, brother of Ahmet Kaymaz, said: “Our confidence in justice has been shaken. There was manipulation throughout the entire trial process. We were shocked once again by the latest ruling. The victims were civilians. I used to live in the same house with them. According to this ruling, I should also be tried for abetting terrorists. We will take the case to the ECtHR.”
Mehmet Emin Aktar, the head of Diyarbakır Bar Association, said he does not understand how shooting a 12-year-old boy can be considered self-defense, describing the court's decision as “dreadful.”
Benzer Haberler 
