The first hearing of the case against 6 defendants, 3 of whom are arrested, regarding the death of Afghanistan national Vezir Mohammad Nourtani (50), who was found burnt to death on November 10 last year in Zonguldak, lasted 12 hours.
Arrested defendants Enver Gideroğlu and Hakan Körnöş, the owners of the quarry, accused each other in the act of burning Nourtani. Arrested defendant Ahmet Aydın said that his cousin Hakan Körnöş poured the gasoline and told him ‘uncle, let’s go’, and that Nourtani suddenly caught fire when he lit the lighter to take advantage of the light because he had dropped his phone. When Körnöş was asked by Qamer Gül Meliki, the wife of the deceased miner, “Was my husband in the trunk when you went to get gas?”, he replied that he was in the service van. After further questions following this new information, Körnöş stated that Nourtani was in the trunk and that he had misspoken. The court decided to continue detention of the defendants and postponed the hearing by reimposing a travel ban on A.Ç., whose judicial control was previously lifted.
The incident occurred on November 10, 2023 in Kırat Neighborhood Koca Osman Street. Passers-by noticed a burnt body in a wooded area and reported the incident. The body, which was determined to have been burned by pouring gasoline by the teams arriving in the area, was taken to the morgue of Atatürk State Hospital for autopsy. After an investigation, it was determined that the body belonged to Vezir Mohammad Nourtani, a father of 3 children from Afghanistan, who worked in an illegally operated mine. An autopsy revealed that Nourtani died on November 9, while his family reported him missing on the morning of November 10. The body of the Afghan miner was buried on November 11.
Hakan Körnöş (46) and Enver Gideroğlu (34), the owners of the illegal mine where Nourtani worked, and Körnöş’s cousin Ahmet Aydın (52) were arrested. Quarry employees S.K. (28), E.D. (22) and coal trader A.Ç. (46) were released on judicial control. It was determined that the illegal quarry was closed by the gendarmerie 4 days before the incident, but its owners reopened it afterwards. The illegal quarry was destroyed and closed after the incident.
‘ IT WAS STATED IN THE INDICTMENT THAT THEY BURNED THE BODY FOR FEAR THAT THE FURNACE WOULD CLOSE’
In the indictment prepared, it was stated that the Afghan miner had a work accident by getting stuck between the wagons in the illegal quarry and that the owners of the quarry acted out of fear that ‘if the incident is revealed, the quarry will be closed’. The indictment stated that Nourtani was burned while he was lifeless, and a lawsuit was filed against 6 suspects at Zonguldak 1st Assize Court with the demand of life imprisonment for ‘intentional killing in complicity’.Zonguldak 1st Assize Court hearing was attended by Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party MP Özgül Saki, Labor Party Chairman Seyit Aslan and supported the family. Arrested defendant Hakan Körnöş and defendants E.D. and A.Ç. were present at the hearing, while other arrested defendants Enver Gideroğlu and Ahmet Aydın and unarrested defendant S.K. attended via SEGBİS. While the lawyers of the parties were also present at the hearing, 4 lawyers from the Zonguldak Bar Association submitted a request to participate in the case on behalf of the bar association, stating that the incident injured the public conscience and that the court has a historical responsibility.
PRESIDENT: WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL 112?
The hearing started at 14.00 and the statements of the defendants were taken first. E.D. stated that Nourtani, who collapsed at the stove, was given CPR and taken outside and said, “At that time Enver and Hakan said, ‘Let’s not make it look like it happened inside the stove, let’s make it look like it happened outside the stove and take him to the hospital. Hakan and Enver said together ‘we have an execution, we don’t want to get in trouble, the Afghan has no ID card. The stove is illegal’. So we put the Afghan in the trunk of the car with a blanket. Hakan asked me to buy gasoline, but I refused.” When the presiding judge asked E.D., “You are so many men, why didn’t you call 112 when something happened to someone around 19.30?” the defendant replied, “We continued working because Hakan brothers said we would take him to the hospital.”
‘WHEN I SAW THE NEWS I WENT TO THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE AND TOLD THEM’
Explaining that he was in the vehicle carrying the arrested defendants and Nourtani, A.Ç. said, “Enver told Hakan to stop. Enver said, ‘He is Afghan, let’s throw him out.’ I swore and said ‘jackal, wolf will eat him. I said, ‘You can’t throw him away, he’s a human being.’ Hakan was right, he said, ‘Are you crazy? I stayed with them for about 45 minutes. I tried to convince them to take me to the hospital. Then I told them to let me go and went home. When I saw the news, I immediately came to the prosecutor’s office with my lawyer and told everything. I was drunk, Enver was the first one to say let’s throw him away. But Hakan could have said it too.”
‘I DIDN’T SEE WHO POURED IT, WHO BURNED IT’
Arrested defendant Enver Gideroğlu said that his partner Körnöş said, “I have an execution. If I go in, I can’t get out for the rest of my life,” and said, ‘Hakan told me, ’You say the mine is mine and I will take care of your family. Alaattin turned around and said, ‘You’ll serve 6 months at most and get out’. I showed him my work clothes and said, ‘I’m going to say I’m the boss in this condition.’ Alaattin told me that his house was close and he would give me clothes. He asked me to say that the stove was mine. I told him that I was not the boss. We returned 10 minutes of the way. Ahmet, Hakan and A.Ç. started drinking. Eray came to us. They drank for 1-1.5 hours saying ‘what are we going to do? I gave my phone to another Afghan worker to tell Mohammad’s family that he didn’t come to work on Hakan’s orders. While I was sitting in the car, Hakan and Ahmet carried the blanket together. The windows were tinted, I didn’t see who poured gasoline or who set it on fire. I saw it catching fire and Ahmet running with a canister in his hand.”
