Defendant sentenced for murder of West Thracian psychiatrist
The hearing at Bakırköy 18th High Criminal Court was attended by the arrested defendant Serhat Tunçdemir and the lawyers of the parties.
Perihan Mutlu Hacıosman, the wife of the deceased Fikret Hacıosman, the lawyer of Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Health and representatives of Istanbul Medical Chamber were also present at the hearing.
Perihan Mutlu Hacıosman, who attended the hearing, said "I demand the defendant to be punished".
Arrested defendant Serhat Tunçdemir stated that he repeated his previous defences.
The court sentenced the defendant Serhat Tunçdemir to aggravated life imprisonment for "premeditated murder". The court considered the defendant's "past, social relations, behaviours after the act and during the trial, attitudes and behaviours observed during the trial" as a reason for discretionary discount in his favour and reduced the sentence to life imprisonment.
The court sentenced the defendant Tunçdemir to 10 months imprisonment for "carrying a gun without a licence" and deferred the announcement of the verdict. The court also ruled for the continuation of the defendant's detention.
Making a statement after the hearing, Istanbul Medical Chamber Representative Güray Kılıç said, "We will protect the memory of Dr Fikret Hacıosman and other colleagues we lost. We will continue the struggle with all determination to eliminate the violence in health, which extends to murders and is becoming increasingly widespread."
In the indictment prepared by Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was stated that the defendant Tunçdemir, a high school student who was 18 years old on the date of the incident, received psychiatric support by being examined 4 times in 2018 by Fikret Hacıosman, a psychiatrist working in a private hospital in Bahçelievler.
In the indictment, the defendant, who was treated with the diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder and severe depressive seizure with psychotic symptoms, was asked to be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for "intentional killing by design".
