, the T24 news website reported.){kind=link}
An İstanbul court has handed down a prison sentence of two-and-a-half years to a son of the Somali president who was involved in a deadly car accident in Turkey in November but converted it into a fine of TL 27,300 ($906), the T24 news website reported.
The first hearing in the trial of Mohamed Hassan Sheik Mohamud, the son of Somali President Hasan Sheikh Mohamud, was held at the İstanbul 33rd Penal Court of First Instance on Tuesday.
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 indictment accused the younger Mohamud of causing the death of 38-year-old motorcycle courier Yunus Emre Göçer based on forensic reports and video footage of the accident.
Göçer was critically injured on November 30 when he was struck from behind on a busy highway in İstanbul by Mohamud, who was driving a vehicle registered to the Somali Consulate in the Fatih district. He succumbed to his injuries in a hospital on December 6.
During Tuesday’s hearing, the prosecutor announced his opinion and demanded a prison sentence of between two and six years for Mohamud.
The court 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.
Although Mohamud was taken into police custody following the accident, he was released after giving a statement, which received significant backlash, following which a travel ban was imposed on him days after the collision.
However, it turned out that Mohamed Hassan Sheik Mohamud had already fled Turkey by the time a travel ban was imposed on him.
Mohamud recently returned to Turkey 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 blamed Göçer for the accident.
The court withdrew the arrest warrant against Mahmut after taking his statement and also lifted the travel ban imposed on him. The court released Mohamud and will not summon him for further hearings.
Turkish media outlets reported in late December that Göçer’s wife, Öznur, withdrew the criminal complaint she filed against Mohamud. She initially held Turkish authorities responsible for allowing Mohamud to flee the country.
In remarks to the Turkish media, she said her husband was working hard to earn a living and meet the rehabilitation expenses of their 8-year-old son who has autism, adding that he left the house wearing knee pads, a protective jacket and a helmet on the day of the accident because he was a person who followed the rules.
Öznur Göçer’s decision to withdraw her complaint came shortly after she met with Somali Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur at the office of Göçer’s lawyer, İyaz Çimen, in İstanbul on December 18 and talked to Somali President Mohamud on the phone.
President Mohamud offered his condolences to Öznur Göçer, saying he was saddened by the death of her husband, was praying for him and respected the actions to be taken by the Turkish judiciary against his son.
There were unconfirmed claims that Öznur Göçer agreed to withdraw her complaint in return for “blood money” as compensation.
Somali Cumhurbaşkanı'nın oğlu, kurye Yunus Emre Göçer'i öldürmekten 27 bin 300 TL para cezası aldı. En azından göstermelik olarak birkaç ay içeride yatırılacağını düşünüyordum. Ama öyle bile yapmadılar. Ara celsede gizlice Türkiye'ye getirilip savunması alındı, serbest bırakıldı.…
— Alican Uludağ (@alicanuludag) January 16, 2024
Journalist Alican Uludağ said on X that the Göçer family was so desperate that they had to agree to the take the compensation offered. He said if the family could have trusted that the state would take care of Göçer’s two children, they would not have accepted it.
He said he was expecting son Mohamud to spend at least several months in jail but that he was let go.
“Because it is the Justice and Development Party that’s ruling the country,” said the journalist in reference to the “justice” in the party’s name.
Somalia and Turkey are longstanding partners, engaging in multi-tiered development cooperation, including military, social, economic and infrastructure partnerships.
Erdoğan and Somali President Mohamud have a close friendship and refer to each other as “brother” in their tweets.