Verdict in the trial of the Somali President's son

What had happened?

As you know, Mohammed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the son of the Somali President, caused the death of a motorcycle rider through negligence in traffic. In the accident that occurred on Thursday, November 30, around noon, on Kennedy Avenue in Istanbul, at the exit of the Eurasia Tunnel in the direction of Zeytinburnu, the diplomatic vehicle driven by the Somali President's son, Mohamud, struck the motorcycle ridden by motor courier Yunus Emre Göçer (38) from behind. It should be noted here that, in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, it is not possible for a head of state's son to benefit from diplomatic immunity while using a vehicle provided by that state for official state business for personal purposes. In fact, it is expected that the sending state would act sensitively in this regard. Diplomatic vehicles cannot be used by anyone other than those to whom they are assigned. This issue was never examined in this case. 

Göçer, who was thrown onto the road by the impact of the collision, passed away on December 6 at the hospital where he had been taken in critical condition.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had announced immediately after the incident that, according to the accident report prepared, Göçer was found to be at fault for violating lane-changing rules, no fault was attributed to the vehicle driver, and that Mohamud, who had been detained, was therefore charged with "negligent injury" and released.

According to the aforementioned accident report, two traffic police officers who arrived at the scene had prepared a factually incorrect report that showed Mohamud as faultless and found Göçer, who was in no condition to defend himself, to be primarily at fault.

However, the expert report prepared after the accident stated that motor courier Göçer did not violate any articles specified in the Highway Traffic Law during the accident and was not at fault, while emphasizing that the Somali President's son, Mohamud, was primarily at fault for the accident, as he failed to maintain a safe following distance and struck the motorcycle from behind, in violation of the Highway Traffic Law and the Highway Traffic Regulation.

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç later stated in his remarks that they had consulted with Somali judicial authorities and noted that the contradiction between the two reports prepared regarding the accident was also being investigated by the Forensic Medicine Institute.

In the supplementary report released by the Forensic Medicine Institute, it was stated that while vehicle driver Mohamud was maneuvering toward the right lane, motorcycle rider Göçer was also slowing down and heading toward the right lane.

The report emphasized that car driver Mohamud did not pay attention to this situation, did not brake, and did not maintain a safe following distance, and it was recorded that Mohamud was "primarily at fault." In the same report, motorcycle rider Göçer, who lost his life in the accident, was found to be "partially at fault."

Regarding the matter, the press release of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office dated 08.12.2023

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced that after Göçer's death, the file was sent to a traffic expert on December 7, 2023, and the expert expressed the opinion on the same day that Göçer was not at fault, and that an arrest warrant was issued for the suspect on December 8, but it was determined that the suspect had left Turkey on December 2. Following this, a judicial investigation was launched against the police officers who conducted the crime scene investigation and the initial fault assessment after the accident.

After the tragic accident, motor courier Göçer's lawyer, İyaz Çimen, had requested his arrest in a petition written to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office due to the suspect being a foreign national and the risk of flight. However, no action was taken against the suspect Mohamud because suspect Mohamud had already fled the country by leaving Turkey on December 2.

Motor courier Göçer's wife, the complainant Öznur Göçer, stated in her declarations taken on December 13 and December 15, 2023, that she was filing a complaint against the suspect, but in her statement dated December 20, 2023, she declared that "she had no complaints at this stage."

Motor courier Göçer's wife, the complainant Öznur Göçer, did not attend the hearing held at the Istanbul 33rd Criminal Court of First Instance, citing an excuse. The lawyer for motor courier Göçer's father, Metin Göçer, said, "We are complainants; we demand that the defendant be punished. Our client has a complaint; we demand that the defendant be punished." The court accepted the request.

The prosecution stated that the suspect caused Göçer's death and demanded that he be sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison for the crime of "causing death by negligence." After the prosecution's closing argument, the defendant Mohamud's lawyer said, "The incident is very sad in terms of its consequences, but it is just an accident. We have tried to share the pain and heal the wounds as much as we could. From here on, the discretion lies with the court."

The Istanbul 33rd Criminal Court very quickly sentenced the defendant to 3 years in prison for the crime of "causing death by negligence," applied a discretionary reduction, and reduced the sentence to 2 years and 6 months. The court, which also converted this sentence into a judicial fine of 27 thousand 300 liras, decided to suspend the defendant's driver's license for 6 months.

Speaking in front of the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan after the hearing, Tuğba Aydın, the lawyer for motor courier Göçer's father, Metin Göçer, stated that they would appeal the decision.

Mesut Çeki, President of the Motor Courier Rights Association, said, "We had been waiting for this court for a long time, and we watched with astonishment. Because the prosecution gave 75 percent of the fault to the other party in its closing argument and said, 'He is primarily at fault.' A motor courier's life cannot be worth 27 thousand 300 TL when the other party is 75 percent at fault. What happened now? Was this justice? Last year, 68 motor couriers lost their lives in work-related murders disguised as traffic accidents. We report death news every day; at best, if our death is a bit media-friendly or if the person who hits us is a bit famous, we can attract the attention of the press. One person will be 75 percent responsible for my death, but will get away with 27 thousand 300 liras. He won't spend a single day in prison. I don't think this is justice."

One of Turkey's leading legal experts, former President of the Istanbul Bar Association Turgut Kazan, made the following statements regarding the decision in his interview with İlke Gürsoy in Gazete Oksijen;

“The Somali President's son was involved in an accident in Turkey that led to a person's death, and we saw and learned that the majority of the fault was his. And the case was closed with a fine of 27 thousand 300 liras. We may not know every detail, of course, but what does this legal landscape show?

If a country has a well-functioning legal system, you wouldn't expect this anyway; you wouldn't wonder 'what will happen' because it would be clear. But when it comes to Turkey, everyone starts to have such concerns. First of all, it is impossible for a foreigner to be released in such an incident. In the past, the prosecutor or judge who did this in Turkey would have been held accountable. But here, he is already released by instructions from above. God forbid, if you had caused such an accident, you wouldn't be able to go home until good news came from the hospital. The police station would wait for him, the prosecutor would wait for him. If they say 'he was discharged,' as a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, they would take your address and a photocopy of your ID, and that's how the police would release you. But a foreigner cannot be released; the trial is ongoing, how will you execute the sentence? Even if a decision is made for trial without arrest, they are banned from going abroad. But now, planes are being prepared.”

In this situation, we see with regret that the decision made by the court today for the Somali President's son in the accident that resulted in the death of Yunus Emre Göçer has once again wounded consciences. According to the decision in question, the COST of killing a person by negligence in Turkey is only 27 thousand 300 TL. In this case, since calling the given decision a punishment would be quite an understatement, it would be more appropriate to call it a cost. Because we see that the given punishment has no deterrent effect.

In the concrete case, the date of the accident is December 6, 2023. In this state, we see that the investigation phase was completed, the indictment was prepared, the preliminary proceedings report was issued, the hearing date was set, the trial was held, and the decision was made in less than 1.5 months. Under normal circumstances, there is no possibility for a trial to be this fast in Turkey. While the burden of the judiciary and, therefore, its slow progress are voiced at every opportunity, the fact that a decision was made extremely quickly in this case has once again raised question marks in minds.

Finally, we can say that unless judicial independence is ensured with all its elements, the number of these and similar suspicious decisions will increase rapidly. This actually explains to us why our country is increasingly deteriorating in international justice indices.