ISTANBUL. – During the fifth trial into the death of Sevag Balikci—the Istanbul Armenian who was killed, on April 24, 2011, in a military unit while serving in the Turkish army—the court again denied the motion to imprison Kivanc Agaoglu—the soldier who killed Balikci, and who is charged with murder.

The court judge stated that it is a matter of honor for him that the trial ends with a fair verdict. He also ordered that Bulent Kaya—Agaoglu’s relative who had instructed the eyewitness soldier Halil Eksi to give false testimony—be present in the next court hearing, Haberturk of Turkey informs.             

Halil Eksi had claimed that a certain Bulent Kaya, who had presented himself as the uncle of Kivanc Agaoglu, had contacted him and said it would be good for him to testify in Kivanc’s favor. Bulent then gave him a paper which Halil signed under. During the hearing on September 9, 2011, this paper was read, in which it was stated that he had not seen how the shot was fired, but he was convinced that it was accidental. And during the hearing on December 27, Eksi confessed to what had actually transpired.

“Kivanc loaded the rifle, aimed it at Sevag, and fired. But I do not know why he killed Sevag,” the eyewitness ex-soldier said.       

To note, Sevag Balikci was killed by Kivanc Agaoglu, but the Turkish gendarmerie had stated that the death had occurred accidentally while the soldiers were joking around. Agaoglu was released at the very first court hearing, and on the grounds that he had no reason to escape. The Turkish Military Prosecutor’s Office demands a mere nine-year sentence for Agaoglu, and on charges of “murder as a result of negligence.” But at Diyarbakir Military Court, a senior officer had stated that, after Sevag’s murder, an eyewitness soldier had told him that Kivanc Agaoglu had told Sevag: “Chubby, I will kill you!” Yet the other military servicemen at the trial denied these words.