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Court frees Turkish soldier accused of
killing Kurdish protester
19.1.2006
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ANKARA, Jan 18,
2006 (AFP) - 21h49 - A court in Turkey on Wednesday
ordered the temporary release of a soldier accused
of killing a demonstrator and injuring five others
during riots in a Kurdish region in November, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
The court in southeast Turkey said Sergeant Tanju
Cavus would remain free until the end of the trial.
Cavus pleaded legimate defence for shooting into the
air after an angry mob attacked his car on November
9.
"They blocked our car and attacked us with iron bars
and stones shouting: 'it's a policeman, kill him',"
Cavus said in a statement.
He had been returning from a medical visit to a
nearby town with his wife and children, he said.
"I panicked. I got my weapon out and I shot in the
air without a specific target," he said. "If I
hadn't used my weapon, I, my wife and children
wouldn't be alive now."
Several thousand people had gathered after a bomb
attack on a bookshop, killing one and injuring six,
in the town of Semdinli, near the border with Iran
and Iraq.
The crowd, which believed the attack was organised
by members of the security forces, tried to lynch
three men who ran away from the site of the blast,
before clashing with police.
Cavus was arrested and imprisoned shortly after the
incident.
The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed some
37,000 lives since 1984 when the rebel Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) took up arms for self-rule in
the predominantly Kurdish southeast.
AFP
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