Kyrgyz tourist wounded in Gezi protests ordered to pay debt to Turkish state

Fevzi Kızılkoyun – ANKARA

A Kyrgyz tourist who was wounded during the Gezi Park protests has been ordered to pay a total of 151 Turkish Liras to the Turkish state even though his injuries were caused by state police. 

Shavkatbek Saipov, 30, filed a complaint against the police, claiming that he lost his eye after a gas canister hit his face, but the court rejected his claims and ordered him to pay 151 liras as “the cost of trial.” 

Saipov was walking in Ankara’s Güvenpark as a tourist on June 1, 2013, when police attacked protesters during the mass demonstrations that occurred around the country. Saipov said a gas canister used to disperse protesters hit his left eye after he became stuck in the middle of the police and the protesters. 

Despite undergoing two surgeries, Saipov lost his left eye and filed a complaint against the police officers. He also demanded compensation worth 210,000 liras, of which 10,000 was for material damages and 200,000 for damages for mental anguish, from the Interior Ministry. Saipov later returned to Kyrgyzstan.

In his application to the court, he stated that police exceeded the limits of their authority to use force, engaged in an act to cause intentional harm, sought a target while firing the gas canister and fired the weapon in an improper fashion.

The court rejected Saipov’s claims, saying “it was impossible to determine what the object that hit Saipov’s eye was and who fired it,” rejecting his compensation demand. 

The court also ruled Saipov to pay 151 liras as the cost of trial. He has appealed against the decision at the Council of State.