Former footballer sentenced to 14 years for manslaughter after traffic dispute

A court in Istanbul has sentenced former footballer Sezer Öztürk, a former Turkey Under-23 international and ex-Bayer Leverkusen player, to 14 years and seven months in prison for shooting a man dead after getting into a traffic dispute.

Sezer Öztürk, the 36-year-old former Turkish footballer, born in Germany , has been sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison for “intentional homicide after unjustified provocation”, with  further suspended two years and one month for illegal possession of a firearm and injuries caused, as reported by 20minutos.

The defendant denied his guilt, claiming that he was acting in self-defence, but the prosecution office believes that the former athlete, now a businessman in the hospitality industry, chased his opponent and shot him as he was fleeing, following  a traffic-related confrontation.

Former footballer Öztürk played two seasons with Bayer Leverkusen and another with Nuremberg in the Bundesliga, as well as with leading Turkish clubs such as Besiktas and Fenerbahçe, before retiring in 2015, and was also charged in 2011 in a controversial Fenerbahçe match-fixing case.

The news of the sentencing of former footballer, Sezer Öztürk, follows similar news that was reported on May 4, when courts in Almeria decided to sentence Spanish footballer Santi Mina to 4 years in prison for the sexual abuse of a woman on June 18, 2017.

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