Turkey protester death suspect released

A Turkish man who was allegedly involved in the death of an anti-government protester in the city of Eskisehir has been released pending trial.

The Eskisehir court released the 33-year-old man, identified as SK, on Monday and ordered him to report to a police station once a week.

SK, who is reportedly a bus driver, was arrested earlier in the day for allegedly beating Ali Ismail Korkmaz during a demonstration against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on June 2.

The 19-year-old student went into coma and succumbed to injuries on July 10.

SK denied the allegations that he was among unknown assailants who beat Korkmaz with sticks that look like baseball bats.

Experts examined footage from 40 security cameras and delivered their findings in a report to the prosecutors’ office.

The report said that 18 crucial minutes were missed from footage that showed the group chased and attacked other protesters near the place Korkmaz was beaten.

“The persons wearing gasmasks, who are estimated to be plainclothes policemen or civilians acting in cooperation with the police, are seen attacking and chasing Gezi protesters with baseball bats or batons,” the report said, adding Korkmaz was seen with a friend.

The government and police denied involvement in the disappearance of the footage section.

Demonstrations erupted in late May after police broke up a sit-in at Istanbul’s Taksim Square in protest against a proposal to demolish Gezi Park.

Erdogan, whose government is the main target of protests, has described the demonstrators as foreign-backed extremists and terrorists.

Earlier reports said that plainclothesmen attacked anti-government protesters with knives, machetes and sticks in several Turkish cities.

Turkish lawmaker Oguz Kaan Salici told Press TV last week that the men are civilians who are protected by the Turkish police.

On July 8, cameras caught a man at Taksim in plain clothes who chased protesters with a machete and even kicked one woman in her back.

On July 11, another machete-wielding man got out of a taxi and chased protesters in Ankara.