In the wake of outrage over a fine of less than $1,000 handed down by a Turkish court to a son of the Somali president who was involved in a fatal car accident, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç has hinted that the court’s decision was appropriate given the circumstances surrounding the proceedings, the Gazete Duvar news website reported.
Tunç on Wednesday made his first comments about the decision by an İstanbul court on Tuesday to impose a fine of TL 27,300 ($906) to Mohamed Hassan Sheik Mohamud, the son of Somali President Hasan Sheikh Mohamud. Son Mohamud stood trial in Turkey on charges of involuntary manslaughter due to his involvement in a car accident in İstanbul on November 30 that led to the death of 38-year-old motorcycle courier Yunus Emre Göçer.
The minister said it is up to the court to decide in crimes of negligence and that the fact that a criminal complaint filed against Mohamud had been withdrawn had led to such an outcome.
Göçer’s widow, Öznur Göçer, who had filed a complaint against Mohamud over the death of her husband, later withdrew her complaint.
Öznur Göçer’s decision to withdraw her complaint came shortly after she met with Somali Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur at the office of her lawyer on December 18 and talked to Somali President Mohamud on the phone, who conveyed his condolences.
There were unconfirmed claims that Öznur Göçer agreed to withdraw her complaint in return for “blood money” as compensation.
An indictment from the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office was seeking a prison sentence of between two and six years for son Mohamud on charges of “involuntary manslaughter.”
The court, in the first and last hearing of the trial on Tuesday, first handed down a prison sentence of three years, then reduced to it to two-and-a-half years. The sentence was later converted into a fine, which means that the trial of Mohamud is over once he pays the amount stipulated.
The court’s decision has led to outrage on social media, with many asking if human life has no value, while others said Mohamud was given a light sentence, although forensic reports found him primarily at fault, because he is the son of the Somali president, a close friend of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They said the court’s decision has once again shown the lack of rule of law in Turkey.
The aftermath of the accident was filled with controversy as Mohamud left Turkey following the accident and before a travel ban was imposed on him.
He returned to Turkey last week and testified in court with the help of an interpreter, repeating his earlier defense that Göçer suddenly slowed down and bore right when Mohamud was driving behind him and that the collision was unavoidable although he had applied the brakes. He also claimed that Göçer was not wearing a helmet.
A recent report issued by Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK), based on video footage of the accident, found son Mohamud to be primarily at fault in the accident because he did not brake when necessary or maintain a safe distance when changing lanes, which resulted in a collision with Göçer’s motorcycle.
An initial report drafted by police officers who arrived at the scene of the crash, however, blamed Göçer for the accident.