Man accused of ‘homicide’ in landmark case on bootleg liquor in Turkey

Aziz Özen - ISTANBUL

Güray Tan Mısır

A prosecutor is seeking up to 25 years in jail for a man who sold bootleg liquor that led to the death of a 45-year-old man. 

The prosecutor demanded the jail sentence on charges of “voluntary manslaughter with probable intent.”

Güray Tan Mısır fell ill and was hospitalized on March 5 last year and died five days later after allegedly drinking the bootleg liquor he had bought from Bayram Çomak.

Çomak admitted he had been selling liquor he had been purchasing from foreign tourists for 10 years.

“The bottles found at Mısır’s place were the bottles I had sold,” Çomak said.

The report from the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) established Mısır had died of methanol poisoning. The vodka bottles found at Mısır’s apartment contained the substance methanol, the ATK said.

The prosecutor argued Çomak had acted with probable intent and had deliberately caused Mısır’s death.