- An indictment has been accepted over the killing of Hakan Tosun, with prosecutors seeking life imprisonment for two suspects on charges of intentional killing.
- Authorities said the suspects’ actions were directly linked to Tosun’s death and were carried out with intent to kill.
- The first hearing is scheduled for May 6 at 2 p.m. at the Bakırköy 17th High Criminal Court in Istanbul.
Rabia Çetin
The indictment, prepared by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, concerns the death of Hakan Tosun, who was beaten to death on the night of Oct. 10 in Esenyurt, a district on the European side of Istanbul. Prosecutors requested punishment for detained suspects Abdurrahman Murat and Adnan Şahin on charges of intentional killing.
In a statement regarding the indictment, Tosun’s lawyers recalled that they had objected to an earlier investigative report prepared by the Büyükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. “As a result of our objections to the report prepared by the Büyükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the indictment prepared by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office concluded that the suspects acted not with intent to injure but with intent to kill, and requested that they be punished under Article 81/1 of the Turkish Penal Code for intentional homicide; unlike the initial report, it did not classify the act as unjust provocation, and no such request was made,” the statement said.
Initial report: Injury and unjust provocation
In the earlier report prepared by a Büyükçekmece public prosecutor, penalties had been sought for suspects Adnan Şahin and Abdurrahman Murat on charges of “aggravated injury resulting in death,” and it was also requested that provisions of unjust provocation be applied in favor of the suspects.
The indictment prepared by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office emphasized that all evidence in the file was evaluated together and that the suspects’ statements, complainant and witness testimonies, camera footage, police records, and forensic medicine and autopsy reports were consistent with one another.
According to records based on camera analysis, suspect Abdurrahman Murat was found to have kicked Hakan Tosun multiple times and to have assaulted him by pulling his head downward and targeting it deliberately. It was noted that the act was not singular but occurred as continuous, successive attacks.
The same footage showed that suspect Adnan Şahin also kicked Tosun after arriving at the scene and assaulted him by lifting the victim from the ground and throwing him back down. The prosecution stated that these acts were not incidental but constituted a “controlled and conscious process of violence.”
Cause of death matches the act
According to a report by the Forensic Medicine Institute, Hakan Tosun died as a result of skull and facial bone fractures and brain hemorrhage caused by blunt head trauma.
The indictment stated that the manner of assault identified in the camera footage matches the cause of death outlined in forensic reports. Accordingly, the prosecution emphasized that there is a “clear and indisputable causal link” between the suspects’ actions and the death.
In his statement, suspect Abdurrahman Murat claimed he was acting in self-defense and struck only a single blow, while Adnan Şahin argued that he was trying to help the victim. However, the indictment assessed these defense statements as “aimed at evading the crime.”
“Intent to kill and joint action”
The indictment determined that the suspects acted with intent to kill by evaluating together factors such as the vital nature of the targeted area (the head), the high number of blows, the continuity of the violence, and the fact that the injuries resulted in death. It also stressed that the two suspects did not act independently but “in unity of idea and action” during the incident. This determination was cited as a critical element directly defining the legal nature of the case.
Charge: Intentional killing
As a result of all these assessments, the prosecution concluded that the actions of Abdurrahman Murat and Adnan Şahin each constitute the crime of intentional killing. It requested that both suspects be punished separately under the relevant provisions of the Turkish Penal Code.
The indictment has been accepted by the Bakırköy 17th High Criminal Court. The first hearing will be held on May 6, 2026, at 2 p.m.
