In the trial concerning the murder of journalist and video activist Hakan Tosun, the court has ruled that the defendants should remain in detention, and adjourned the case until 22 September

CANAN COŞKUN, ISTANBUL

The second hearing in the trial of Abdurrahman Murat and Adnan Şahin on charges of “intentional murder” was held at the Bakırköy 2nd High Criminal Court on 8 July 2026.

The hearing, which was monitored by P24, allowed only a limited number of journalists to attend without justification. Journalists and Tosun’s relatives who were unable to enter the courtroom were directed to another room in the courthouse where an audio-visual system had been set up. The courtroom itself was reserved for Tosun’s family and lawyers, as well as the defense lawyers. The detained defendants participated in the proceedings via the judicial videoconferencing system (SEGBİS) from the prison where they are being held. It was also noted that the prosecutor for the case had changed.

Speaking at the start of the hearing, Tosun’s lawyer, Cemal Yücel, analysed the security camera footage relating to the case and requested that the footage be examined by a new panel of experts. Mr. Yücel mentioned that the detained defendants had criminal records for numerous offences. He stated that, during the previous hearing, the forensic medical report concerning Hakan Tosun had been manipulated by the defense lawyers to suggest that “drugs were found in his blood;” he explained that the substance in question was present in Tosun’s blood because he had been administered medication at the hospital.

His mother fainted

Hakan Bozyurt, one of the Tosun family’s lawyers, then took the floor and began his defense by analyzing the CCTV footage. At that moment, Hakan Tosun’s mother fainted and, weeping, shouted at the defense lawyers: “May they suffer what they have put me through.” Tosun’s sister also said, “You will not even find a place in hell.”

Continuing his statement whilst explaining the footage, lawyer Bozyurt detailed the involvement of Yusuf Özakdağ, identified as the third suspect, in the incident and stated that Özakdağ’s mobile phone records should also be included in the case file. Bozyurt demanded that a criminal complaint be filed against Özakdağ. Lawyer Bozyurt also stated that the defense lawyers’ claim that “drugs were found in Hakan Tosun’s blood” did not reflect the truth, explaining that this was due to the powerful sedatives administered whilst he was in intensive care.

“The defendant’s father is slandering Hakan Tosun”

Hakan Tosun’s sister, Öznur Tosun, then took the floor and said the following:

“We are people who have lived with family honor. There is a Hakan Tosun who lives with honour. Abdurrahman Murat’s father is slandering Hakan Tosun via his social media account, claiming that he used drugs on the streets. He is implying that ‘he deserved to die.’ He is making accusations against me by name. They must not make false statements; we are in agony; they must not harass us.”

In his closing statement, the prosecutor requested that the defendants remain in custody.

“I pray”

The detained defendant Abdurrahman Murat then took the floor and said, “I am very sorry that such an incident has befallen me. I pray; I pray here too. My intention was not to kill, nor was it to injure. Despite my repeated warnings, he hurled severe insults at my mother and sister. I am still in the prime of my youth; I did not want to end up in this situation. This boy already looked as though he’d been beaten before. I offer my condolences to his family.”

Adnan Şahin, another detained defendant who was given the floor, also stated that he was repeating his previous statements.

“A nudge, not a kick”

The defendants’ lawyers also requested their clients’ release. Arguing that their clients had no intent to cause Hakan Tosun’s death, the lawyers claimed that their clients’ statements confirmed this. The lawyer for the defendant Adnan Şahin stated that if the defendants had wanted to kill Hakan Tosun, they could have done so. Stating that they wished for the HTS records between the defendants to be included in the case file, the lawyer argued that this demonstrated there was no collusion amongst the defendants. He maintained that the defendants did not kick Hakan Tosun, but merely nudged him.

The lawyer for the defendant Abdurrahman Murat also argued that Hakan Tosun had sustained a blow to the head whilst being thrown from the metrobus, and contended that the punch thrown by his client could not have caused a skull fracture. Speaking regarding the mention of his client’s criminal record during the hearing, the lawyer stated that these records were not relevant to the case and, if that were the case, Hakan Tosun’s criminal records could also be included in the file.

In response to the defense lawyers’ attempts to refute the accounts of witnesses testifying against their clients, Cemal Yücel, the lawyer for the Tosun family, objected.

The court panel decided to extend the defendants’ detention and adjourned the case until 22 September 2026. The panel ruled that the security camera footage must first be sent to an expert for analysis before the prosecutor could file their final opinion on the case. It was announced that once the footage had been returned by the expert, the case file would be sent to the prosecutor’s office for the preparation of the final opinion. The presiding judge informed the lawyers that the public prosecutor who had appeared at the first hearing was undergoing surgery; if he recovered, the opinion on the case could be prepared between hearings, and the verdict could be announced at the next hearing.

Background of the case

Hakan Tosun set out to visit his family living in Esenyurt, Istanbul on 10 October 2025. When he did not return home, his family reported the situation to the police. Around midnight, two reports were made to the police regarding a person lying on the ground in Esenyurt. An ambulance had taken the person lying on the ground to Başakşehir Çam and Sakura Hospital, but since there was neither identification nor anything else on them, their identity could not be determined. For this reason, hospital police recorded the person’s arrival at the hospital around 2:50 a.m. as a “criminal incident”—a person who would later be identified as Hakan Tosun. Tosun, who had bruises on his eyes and neck, was being kept in intensive care in an unconscious state.

While all this was happening, his family and relatives had begun asking on social media where Tosun was. His family learned around 4:00 a.m. via a police call that Tosun was in the hospital, but when they arrived, they could not find him because he had not been registered. His sister, Öznur Tosun, filed a missing person report, after which the police took his fingerprints and located Hakan that way.

On 11 October 2025, the police summoned the suspects involved in the attack on Hakan Tosun to the station via phone. Abdurrahman Murat and Adnan Şahin were sent to pre-trial detention on charges of “intentional assault.” One day later, Hakan Tosun lost his life after a battle for survival in the intensive care unit.

Shortly before Tosun’s death, footage from security cameras showing the attackers were released. According to the footage, there were three people in the group that attacked Tosun. The third person was the motorcyclist who had transported the individuals jailed for attacking Tosun. The motorcyclist, Yusuf Özakdağ was released after giving a statement as a witness.

After the footage was published in the media, it emerged that relatives of the suspects had taken the security camera from the shop that had viewed the location where Tosun was left, and had told the police that they could come and retrieve it if asked.

Hakan Tosun’s funeral took place on 17 October 2025. On the same day, the Istanbul Police Department issued an official statement regarding the events that occurred during the investigation. The statement claimed that the security camera at a nearby business was not recording. An examination was conducted on 300 hours of footage, and footage from 12 different cameras was added to the investigation file. The statement also noted that an investigation had been launched regarding the suspect’s relatives’ seizure of the business’s footage, and that the business owner and two of the suspect’s relatives had been detained and released under judicial supervision.

Hakan Tosun’s lawyers emphasized in their first press statement on 23 October 2025 that the evidence had been collected carelessly, noting that Tosun’s earring was found at the scene a week later. At that time, Tosun’s ID and wallet were missing. His bag had first appeared at the hospital and was later officially recorded in a report at the Mevlana Police Station on 15 October.

Tosun’s family filed a criminal complaint against Özakdağ on 6 March 2026. The petition stated that instead of trying to calm the situation, Özakdağ had watched what was being done to Tosun; therefore, it requested that a public prosecution be initiated against him for the crime of “willful murder.” To fully uncover the incident and determine whether the assailants were in contact with one another or with others, the family requested that HTS records from the time of the incident, as well as before and after, be obtained for all suspects, and that their phones be seized and examined.

The Bakırköy Chief Prosecutor’s Office completed the investigation four days after the Tosun family filed their complaint and prepared the indictment on 10 March. The indictment was based on the preliminary report prepared by the Büyükçekmece Chief Prosecutor’s Office. The indictment sought life imprisonment for Abdurrahman Murat and Adnan Şahin on charges of “willful murder.”

The preliminary report cited as the basis for the indictment suggested that the locations, nature, and extent of the injuries on Tosun’s body could have resulted from a blow to his face and his subsequent fall to the ground. In the preliminary report, which argued that the suspects’ actions were not intended to kill, Tosun was also charged. To support the suspects’ claim that Tosun was intoxicated, the prosecution had sought statements from seven people who were on the same metrobus as Tosun.

The indictment stated that because the suspects were standing very close to each other at the scene, it was not entirely clear who struck whom. Abdurrahman Murat, who claimed he did not strike Tosun, stated that he threw one punch to push him away because Tosun was advancing toward him, while Adnan Şahin claimed he kicked Tosun with his foot to check on him while he was lying on the ground.