New development in feud-related murder: Prosecutor requests life sentences and arrests, court says 'No'

12punto.com.tr

In December 2019, Yasin Yağız (15) was stabbed to death during a fight between high school students in the Yunus Emre neighborhood of Sultangazi.

Yasin Yağız

Y. Demir and Z. Demir, who were alleged to have stabbed Yasin Yağız, were arrested. Following the murder, Y. Yağız's family began threatening the Demir family. Father Hüseyin Demir (due to the threats) moved his home to Bağcılar. However, 11 months after the incident, Hüseyin Demir was shot and killed with 7 bullets by Serkan Yağız, the cousin of Yasin Yağız.

Hüseyin Demir

"THERE WAS NO FEUD BETWEEN US AND THE VICTIM"

In his defense at the first hearing held at the Bakırköy 15th High Criminal Court, the detained defendant Serkan Yağız stated, "I was alone when I carried out this incident; the other defendants Nevzat, Ferhat, Kamuran, and Alaattin were not at the scene. No one instigated me to commit this murder; no one gave me any instructions or suggestions in this direction. I am a gun enthusiast, and I carried a weapon because I like guns. There was no feud or problem between the victim and me. On the day of the incident, I came to my aunt's house in Bağcılar. While I was walking on the road to go to my aunt's, I saw the late Hüseyin Demir. When Hüseyin Demir saw me, he reached for his waist. Thinking he would pull out a gun, I drew the weapon from my waist and fired two or three shots at him. Later, the victim moved to a liquor store, and I fired two or three more shots at the victim there, then fled the scene. I am aware of the incident about 3 years ago where the victim's sons stabbed and killed my cousin Yasin Yağız. I had visited Yasin's grave the night before the incident. However, there was no feud between the victim and me due to this incident."

The defendants stated that they were innocent regarding the Hüseyin Demir murder and were not at the scene. The other 4 defendants also denied the accusations and the claims of instigation.

In the 7th hearing of the case, the detained defendant Kamuran Yağız, who is the father of Yasin Yağız and the uncle of Serkan Yağız, was released due to the time spent in detention and the fact that the expected benefit from his detention had been achieved. The family's lawyer had argued since the investigation stage that the defendants were at the scene and that HTS (call detail) records constituted evidence of their presence, and had advocated for their arrest.

"THEY LEFT 5 CHILDREN ORPHANED"

In the final hearing of the case held last week, Hüseyin Demir's brother Metin Demir said, "We will always seek our rights; we will not give up on this. The defendants are playing the victim, saying they are ruined and finished. Hüseyin Demir will not come back; they shot him and left his 5 children orphaned."

"I AM AFRAID OF BEING SHOT IN THE BACK ON THE STREET"

The Public Prosecutor announced his final opinion on the merits. The opinion also stated that the victim Hüseyin Demir had applied to the Istanbul Governorship for a gun license 2 months after the murder of Yağız. In the petition he submitted to the governorship, Demir stated that he had changed his residence due to the murder of Yasin Yağız, that his new residence had been learned by Yağız's relatives, that he was being asked about by local tradespeople, and that he had seen certain individuals in the vicinity of his residence. It was revealed that Demir, who also stated in his petition that he had filmed the person asking about him, had also mentioned that he was living in fear with his family and was afraid of being shot in the back on the street. It was noted that the person in the video recording submitted by the late Hüseyin Demir to the governorship was the defendant Alaattin Yağız.

PROSECUTOR REQUESTED THE ARREST OF 2 DEFENDANTS, COURT REFUSED

The Public Prosecutor requested the acquittal of the defendants Nevzat and Ferhat Yağız, stating that there was no definitive evidence beyond any doubt sufficient for conviction regarding the crimes charged against them. For defendants Serkan, Kamuran, and Alaattin Yağız, the prosecutor requested separate aggravated life sentences for the crime of 'premeditated murder with the motive of blood feud'. Additionally, a prison sentence of 1 to 3 years was requested for defendant Serkan Yağız for the crime of 'carrying an unlicensed weapon'. While the Public Prosecutor requested the continuation of Serkan Yağız's detention, he also requested the arrest of Kamuran and Alaattin Yağız.

The court panel decided to reject the requests of the complainants' lawyer (Atty. Bahaeddin Özdemir) and the prosecution for the arrest of Kamuran and Alaattin Yağız, and adjourned the hearing to give the defense lawyers time to present their arguments against the prosecutor's opinion.

THEY HAD COME TO THE HEARING WITH WEAPONS LIKE AN ARSENAL

The Demir family's lawyer Bahaeddin Özdemir said, "In 2019, Yasin Yağız was stabbed to death in Sultangazi. After the murder, the family seeking blood held the Demir family responsible for the death of their son. The father of Z. Demir, who is still being tried in detention in the Yasin Yağız murder file, had moved his house in Gaziosmanpaşa to Bağcılar after the incident, but Z. Demir's father, Hüseyin Demir, was killed in Bağcılar.

The perpetrator of the Hüseyin Demir murder, Serkan Yağız, and the suspects who instigated the murder were caught and their trials began. The wife of Alaattin Yağız, who is a defendant in the trial, and the uncles of the perpetrator, who are witnesses, were caught in the courthouse courtyard during 2 separate hearings with an amount of weapons that could be considered a small arsenal. Kamuran Yağız, who is the father of Yasin Yağız and the uncle of the perpetrator Serkan Yağız, and who had claimed from the very beginning that they were not at the scene, admitted 2 years later in the 7th session that he was at the scene by saying 'I was passing by the scene in a vehicle,' but he was released by the court with house arrest.

According to the latest HTS reports, it was understood that Kamuran Yağız was at the scene. Alaattin Yağız, the father of the perpetrator Serkan Yağız, who has been tried without detention since the beginning of the file and for whom a petition was submitted to the governorship by the late Hüseyin Demir stating that he was being threatened and followed, had admitted to being at the scene but said he was at a relative's house 1 km away. Again, it was understood from the reports that Alaattin Yağız was at the scene and his phone never signaled in the vicinity of his relative's house. Although many findings aimed at proving the crime were made by the family's lawyer Bahaeddin Özdemir, including the fact that burner phones registered in the names of the defendants' siblings were at the scene and that the defendants' escape routes were consistent with each other, an arrest could not be secured due to the delay in HTS reports."

News Source: 12punto