Turkish gendarmerie slap slayed HDP member Poyraz’s brother, police spray tear gas at hearing

A Turkish gendarmerie officer slapped slayed HDP member Deniz Poyraz’s brother while the police sprayed tear gas in the courtroom during a hearing of the murder case on Oct. 12.

Duvar English

During the fifth hearing of a case overseeing the murder of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) member Deniz Poyraz, the gendarmerie officer has slapped Poyraz’s brother Kamuran Poyraz, according to reporting by the daily Evrensel. 

The hearing took place at the 6th Heavy Penalty Court of İzmir Bayraklı Courthouse on Oct. 12. The defendant Onur Gencer, his lawyer as well as Deniz Poyraz’s family and lawyers were present at the hearing.

After the identity check, the court judge said that some of the lawyers cannot be present in the courtroom. Poyraz family’s lawyers reacted against this decision, saying that all of them were present as authorized people. The tensions arose, with a scuffle occurring between the lawyers and security.

In the meantime, Poyraz’s brother Kamuran Poyraz, who is normally imprisoned at Balıkesir Prison, was brought to the courtroom. At this point, a gendarmerie officer slapped Poyraz, upon which the tensions arose further. The police then used pepper gas, with the court board adjourning the hearing.

The courtroom was changed to a different location, with the court board citing the reason of the "failure to secure Gencer’s security” as the reason. The trial will resume on Oct. 13.

On June 17, 2021, Gencer set the HDP's İzmir provincial building on fire and killed the party employee Deniz Poyraz. The HDP said that the instigator of the attack is the government and that the actual plan of the assailant was to kill more people.