Comparison of Mehmet Çetin's Autopsy Report with the Examination of His Clothing

In the comparison made in the previous chapter concerning the bullet that, according to the criminalistic examination, was determined to have been fired from Şükrü Seymen's weapon and that, according to the autopsy report, was stated to have struck Mehmet Çetin's left knee, it emerged that in the other official reports, in the external post-mortem examination footage, and in the statements of the bodyguards who said they had found Mehmet Çetin wounded, there was no bullet wound on Mehmet Çetin's left knee. By means of the autopsy report, a bullet-core fragment was extracted from a wound that did not exist and, with the allegation that it had been fired from Şükrü Seymen's weapon, the accused were sentenced on the ground that they had killed Mehmet Çetin.

The bullets that struck Mehmet Çetin's body, as summarised in the autopsy report, are as followsMehmet Çetin's Autopsy Report (Muğla Forensic Medicine Branch Directorate, 03.08.2016, AT: 2016-1238): Mehmet Çetin's Autopsy Report.:

1. Bullet 1 — entered the left arm from the outside and exited the left arm on the inside; it then entered under the armpit and exited from the right side of the back.
2. Bullet 2 — entered the left side of the lower back from the side and exited from the rear.
3. Bullet 3 — entered the right leg from the inside and exited from the front.
4. Bullet 4 — entered from above the left knee and remained inside.

We have already said that Bullet 4 does not appear in the other reports, in the photographs, or in the video footage.

The clothing removed from Mehmet Çetin was subjected to chemical examination at the İzmir Criminal Police Laboratory on 22 August 2016, and the report drawn up was sent to the courtClothing Chemical Examination Expert Report (Mehmet Çetin & Nedip Cengiz Eker; İzmir Criminal Police Laboratory, 22.08.2016, IZM-KIM-16-08515-Ek): The Expert Report Containing the Chemical Examinations Carried Out on the Clothing of Mehmet Çetin and Nedip Cengiz Eker..

Normally, the bullet holes in the clothing and the holes in the body ought to correspond to one another. A correspondence should be observed both in the number of holes and in whether they are entry or exit holes. In clothing, gunshot residue (GSR) may be seen at entry holes, whereas it is not observed at exit holes. In order to confirm whether the other particulars in the autopsy report — the report in which a bullet wound that did not exist on the left knee was presented as though it did — are correct, let us compare them with the clothing examination:

The clothing examination report contains, in point 1, the results of the examination of Mehmet Çetin's shirt; in point 2, of his trousers; and in point 9, of his assault vest. From these results, it may be said that:

• the hole in sub-point 1-a) — 0.1 cm in diameter, with gunshot residue around it — corresponds to the entry–exit hole on the left arm in External Examination points 3 and 4 of the autopsy report;
• the holes in sub-point 1-b) — 0.4 and 1 cm in diameter, with gunshot residue around them — correspond to the fresh graze wound on the outer left elbow described in the last paragraph of the External Examination;
• the holes in sub-points 1-d), 1-e) and 9-a) correspond to the entry–exit holes on the left side of the lower back in External Examination points 1 and 2;
• and the holes in sub-points 2-a) and 2-b) correspond to the entry–exit holes on the right leg in External Examination points 8 and 9.

We have already said that on the left leg of the trousers there is no hole corresponding to the left knee — External Examination point 7 of the autopsy report.

As regards External Examination point 5 of the autopsy report: the bullet hole under the armpit — which is also clearly visible in the photographs and videos — does not appear on the shirt. It is possible, however, that this hole simply could not be detected, since even the hole in the left sleeve of the shirt is only 0.1 cm in diameter, so the hole would be small, and since the bullet, having entered and exited the arm, would have left no gunshot residue around it.

Finally, the wound recorded as an exit wound on the upper right side of the back, described in External Examination point 6 of the autopsy report (according to the autopsy report, the wound formed by the bullet that entered the left arm from the outside, exited the left arm on the inside, then entered under the armpit and exited from the right side of the back), does not match the clothing examination report. As stated in sub-points 1-c) and 9-b) of the clothing examination report, on the right side of the back there are two side-by-side holes — on the shirt 0.5 and 1 cm in diameter, and on the assault vest both 0.5 cm in diameter — and gunshot residue was detected around the holes. Gunshot residue is not found at exit holesDr. Ercüment Aksoy, Dr. Atınç Çoltu, Dr. Beyhan Ege et al. "Adli Travmatoloji" [Forensic Traumatology]. Birinci Basamak İçin Adli Tıp [Forensic Medicine for Primary Care]. Türk Tabipleri Birliği (Turkish Medical Association). https://www.ttb.org.tr/eweb/adli/4.html. The presence of gunshot residue on both Mehmet Çetin's assault vest and his shirt therefore shows that the bullet entered through his back, and did not exit it.

If the bullet that entered Mehmet Çetin's left arm from the outside, exited the left arm on the inside, and then entered under the armpit did not exit through his back, then it remained in his body. And if the bullet that entered through his back did not exit through his chest, then it too remained in his body. And indeed there is no hole in the chest region, either on the body or on the clothing. If these bullets remained in the body, why was this not investigated?

When the bullet hole in the back is examined closely, the edges of the wound are seen to be turned inward. It also appears as though it was formed by two separate bullets entering side by sideThe photograph can be downloaded for closer examination from the following link: Mehmet Çetin — Bullet Holes on the Back.

In conclusion, although Mehmet Çetin's autopsy report states that one of the bullets that struck his body entered the left arm and then under the armpit and exited through the back, the report prepared following the examination of his clothing at the criminal laboratory shows that there was gunshot residue at the holes found on the left arm and on the back — that is, that both of these holes were entry holes — and, moreover, that there was no exit hole on the opposite side of these holes, from which it is understood that the bullets remained in the body. In short, according to the clothing examination, Mehmet Çetin was shot in his left arm and his back, and the bullets remained in his body. Yet, following the autopsy, these bullets were not removed from the body and sent to the prosecutor's office for examination. Were the bullets not removed because, once removed, Mehmet Çetin's real killers would come to light? Taking the mortal remains of Mehmet Çetin, who fell in the line of duty, from his grave and having them re-examined by independent institutions could help bring the truth to light.