Zehra Kınık requests removal of travel ban! Mother rebels: 'You cannot be this heartless'

Fatma Zehra Kınık Demir, the daughter of former Turkish Red Crescent President Kerem Kınık, struck a motorcycle driven by Yavuz Selim Öztürk with her car in Beykoz Kavacık last July.

In the incident, 17-year-old Batın Barlasçeki, who was sitting on the back of the motorcycle, fell, hit his head on concrete bollards, and lost his life. The driver, Öztürk, and two other people hit by the motorcycle as it continued to skid along the sidewalk were also injured.

After the accident, which resulted in 1 death and 3 injuries, Fatma Zehra Kınık was released under judicial control after being held in custody for 1 day. The judicial control condition imposed on Fatma Zehra Kınık, who is being tried on charges of "causing death and injury by negligence" with a potential prison sentence of 2 to 15 years, was lifted at the first hearing held on October 30.

REQUESTED THE LIFTING OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL BAN

The second hearing of the case took place on January 29 at the Istanbul Anatolian 8th High Criminal Court. During the hearing, Kınık's lawyers requested that their client's international travel ban be lifted. Barlasçeki's lawyer, meanwhile, requested that Kınık be tried while in custody. The court panel rejected the parties' requests and adjourned the hearing to April 30.

CITING EDUCATION

The family's lawyer, Uysal Uğurlu, stated that at the last hearing, it was requested that the travel ban be lifted by claiming that Kınık is pursuing a master's degree abroad.

REACTION FROM THE MOTHER: ARE YOU REALLY THIS HEARTLESS?

Barlasçeki's mother, Hasret Doğan, reacted to Kınık's request with the following words: “My son was valuable; the things they are doing now make him feel worthless. It is not that cheap. I am fighting for my child, whom I valued more than my own life. In return, they can say that her education is being interrupted. My life ended with my son, too. My son is gone, his life is gone. And you are worried about your education. Is this really it? As a person who caused this, you cannot be this heartless.”

Uysal also evaluated the court's rejection of their request for Zehra Kınık to be tried while in custody during the last hearing.

Uysal pointed out that the Beykoz Prosecutor's Office, which referred Zehra Kınık to the Criminal Court of Peace for questioning after she was taken into custody following the accident, had requested judicial control instead of an arrest warrant.

Regarding the rejection of the request for Kınık to be tried in custody, he pointed to the prosecutor's request for judicial control and stated, “The judge of the Criminal Court of Peace was also legally tied hand and foot.”

KINIK IS ALSO FOUND PRIMARILY AT FAULT IN THE COURT'S EXPERT REPORT

In the expert report prepared at the request of Barlasçeki's family's lawyer, Uysal Uğurlu, Kınık was found to be 100 percent at fault in the accident. Kınık was also found to be primarily at fault in the expert report prepared at the court's request. Regarding the matter, Uysal said, "Even though it has proceeded in a way that is not in accordance with the law, as a legal professional, I believe that she will ultimately definitely receive a sentence."