The former president of Turkish football club Ankaragücü, who was briefly arrested in late 2023 after punching a referee at the end of a game in Ankara, was given a sentence of more than three years on battery charges, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
An Ankara court concluded the trial of four suspects, including former Ankaragücü President Faruk Koca, on Monday. Koca received a prison sentence of three years, seven months on charges of “intentionally wounding a public official.” Koca was also given a suspended sentence of less than one year on charges of making threats and violating a law on the prevention of violence in sports.
The three other defendants who took part in the attack were also given suspended sentences on similar charges, varying between 15 months and five years. They are all expected to appeal the court’s verdicts.
Koca, a former Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmaker, on December 11 knocked referee Halil Umut Meler to the ground with a vicious punch to the face on the pitch following a 1-1 draw with Rizespor, leaving the official with a black eye.
He was remanded to pretrial detention the following day and was released approximately two weeks later.
The attack on the referee sparked outrage and made headlines in Turkey and around the world. It led to a week’s suspension of the Turkish Super Lig by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF).
Koca announced his resignation from Ankaragücü following the incident. He was subsequently banned for life by Turkey’s football federation.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is known to have close ties to Koca, condemned the incident in a tweet on X at the time, but there were claims that Koca’s close ties to Erdoğan and his government might help him to go unpunished once the public outrage died down.
Following the incident, the AKP referred Koca, who was among the co-founders of the political party, to its disciplinary board, demanding his dismissal. The central executive board (MYK) subsequently decided to eject him from the party.
Meler was kept under observation at a hospital for two days due to some bleeding around his left eye and a fracture from the impact of the punch. The referee, who spoke to police at the hospital, said Koca threatened to “finish him and the other referees on the pitch off” and said, “I will kill you,” in reference to Meler.