Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
A Turkish man confined to a wheelchair since being attacked in Belgium by a gunman who also murdered four women has slammed a decision by his homeland to free him after he was sent back home to serve his sentence.
The killer, whose victims included his own pregnant sister, was jailed for life following a four-year trial and he served just five years in Belgium before applying to return to Turkey to complete his sentence, with Turkish authorities quickly releasing him and clearing him of all charges soon after his arrival.
Turkish national Osman Calli, who was living in the Belgian city of Ghent, murdered four women, including his wife Teslime, 25, and his own pregnant sister Hacer, 19, and injured three others on the evening of 11th November, 2004.
One of the people Calli injured was wheelchair-bound Erbey Bicer who was shot in a case of mistaken identity.
The person Calli wanted to kill was Erbay Kara, whom he claimed was in a relationship with his wife. While he was tracking Erbay Kara, he went to Erbey Bicer’s house because of the similarity in their first name.
When he entered his house, Erbey, now 47, was sleeping in his bed. When he woke up, he saw Calli with a gun to his head. Although Erbey tried to explain that he was not the person Calli was looking for, Calli did not listen.
Calli reportedly wanted to kill Erbey and shot him, but instead he ended up seriously injured and was paralysed from the neck down.
Calli, who was found and arrested by the Belgian authorities, was jailed for life following a four-year trial and served five years in Belgium before applying to return to Turkey to complete his sentence.
He was transferred to Turkey on 28th June 2013 and removed from Belgium’s criminal system the following year.
Calli only spent three years in jail in Turkey before being partially released and then cleared, according to reports.
His lawyer Ergun Top told Belgian media that he was partially released in 2016, placed on parole in 2019, and cleared of all charges a year later.
Calli, now 63 years old, told Belgian media: “I am enjoying the sun, sea, and beach here. I have served my sentence. I have started a new life here.”
Stating that he has been confined to a wheelchair for years because of a ‘name similarity’, Erbey told Turkish media about how he felt after Calli’s release.
He said: “I don’t know Osman Calli or any of his relatives. He shot me. For 18 years, I’ve been trapped in my own body, paralysed from the neck down. I was in hospital for months.
“I had to explain to people that he had mistaken me for someone else and that it was not my fault until he confessed to it in court. Until then, people always thought I was having an affair with Calli’s wife, even though it seemed like they believed I wasn’t doing such a thing.”
Erbey, who stated that his lawyer will deal with the issue and that he will not drop the matter, said: “This murderer has never regretted what he did. Now this man is living his life and I am trapped in my own body. This should not be the price for what he did. I have not been well at all since the day I learned of his release. This should not have happened.”
