New probe launched into fatal shooting of Nigerian refugee at Istanbul police post

A new investigation will be launched into the murder of Nigerian refugee Festus Okey, killed by an officer’s bullet during an interrogation at an Istanbul post, seven years after the fatal shooting that caused public outcry, a lawyer has said.

The officer Cengiz Yıldız was sentenced to four years and two months of prison on charges of “involuntary manslaughter” after a legal process that drew much controversy over the loss of evidence and the refusal by the court to include Okey’s family as an integral part of the trial.

Lawyer Alp Tekin Ocak, who filed a complaint for a retrial on behalf of the victim’s brother, said the fresh investigation was launched this time on charges of murder in the first degree. He also accused those who conducted the first investigation of deliberately spoliating evidence to cover-up the crime, adding they will also be investigated on murder charges in the new investigation.

“The perpetrator of the murder is not only the officer who pulled the trigger, but also the ones who detained Okey, those who conducted the interrogation and the chief of the police post of Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district,” he said.

Okey had been detained on Aug. 20, 2007, for not carrying identification and was brought to the Beyoğlu police post, located nearby the city’s entertainment center. He was fatally shot by Yıldız after his interrogation. Before his killing, Okey had told police officers that he was intending to apply for asylum to the U.N.’s refugee agency, which would give him temporary protection in Turkey. 

His case dragged for four years, as the court could not certify Okey’s identity after the defendant’s lawyers claimed the...