Hamdi Kayapınar is a man from Kayseri, in Central Anatolia, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing six people between 1998 and 2001. He had already served time as a boy of 14 for the death of his younger brother. In February 2017 he left prison under the Supervised Release Law. On August 2, 2018 a man was killed in Kayseri, and on August 7 police arrested Kayapınar. In February 2019 the Kayseri 1st Heavy Penal Court gave him aggravated life imprisonment, a sentence that was upheld on appeal.
In 1994, when he was 14, his younger brother died, and Kayapınar was held responsible. He spent about four years in prison and was released under the Conditional Release Law, known in Turkish as the Şartlı Salıverme Yasası. The court that dealt with the case, the year of any verdict and the charge wording are not on record.
Between March 1998 and February 2001 Kayapınar killed six people in Kayseri. They were Yaşar Sezer, Ali Aras, Abdullah Aslan, Memiş Dinçaslan, İbrahim Genç and Cafer Şahin. He also wounded two police officers. The killings came in periods of roughly eighteen months with breaks between them.
Kayapınar was arrested in 2002. The Kayseri 1st Heavy Penal Court sentenced him to life imprisonment six times, with prison terms for wounding and robbery offenses. The date of the verdict is not on record, and the exact charges are not on record beyond murder. He served 16 years in prisons in Kayseri and Sivas, and before the end of that period he was held in Ankara.
On February 12, 2016, Kayapınar was released from the Ankara prison under the early-release provision of the Supervised Release Law, one year ahead of his scheduled conditional release. Back in Kayseri, he was required to sign in at a police station and attend training programs. He then petitioned the enforcement prosecutor, saying that his life was at risk and that he did not want supervised release but wished to serve the rest of his sentence in prison. Police handed him to Kayseri Closed Prison, and he re-entered prison on March 1, 2016.
In February 2017 Kayapınar was released again, after 16 years and 2 days in prison, under an early-release provision of the Supervised Release Law, in Turkish the Denetimli Serbestlik Yasası.
On August 2, 2018 Sami Yılmaz, 47, was killed in Kayseri. Kayapınar was detained in Kayseri on August 7, 2018. He confessed and was remanded in custody. Counting his brother and the six earlier victims, Yılmaz was the eighth death for which he was held responsible.
The case was heard in detention at the Kayseri 1st Heavy Penal Court. At the first hearing on November 7, 2018, Kayapınar denied the killing. The court referred him to the Forensic Medicine Authority. Its Istanbul 4th Specialization Board found that his criminal responsibility for the offenses was full.
Prosecutors had asked for aggravated life imprisonment on a charge of premeditated murder, with other charges. On February 11, 2019 the court gave that sentence. Relatives of the dead man welcomed it and asked that he stay in prison.
The Ankara Regional Court of Appeal, 2nd Criminal Chamber, unanimously upheld the sentence in a decision made public on October 6, 2020, leaving the appeal to the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) open. In August 2021 the Court of Cassation's 1st Criminal Chamber unanimously rejected the appeals on the merits. No later proceeding is on record.
Several questions remain open. Accounts place the verdict for the 1998 to 2001 killings in 2001 or 2002, and they differ on how many people were wounded in those years and on whether a separate 15-year term accompanied the 2019 sentence of aggravated life imprisonment. Counting his brother, the deaths laid to him number seven before 2018 and eight with Yılmaz.
1994: at 14, Kayapınar is held responsible for the death of his younger brother; about four years in prison; released under the Conditional Release Law.
March 1998 to February 2001: six killings in Kayseri; two police officers wounded.
2002: arrested; life imprisonment six times from the Kayseri 1st Heavy Penal Court (verdict date not on record).
February 12, 2016: released early from an Ankara prison under the Supervised Release Law.
March 1, 2016: re-enters prison at his own request.
February 2017: released after 16 years and 2 days.
August 2, 2018: Sami Yılmaz is killed in Kayseri.
August 7, 2018: Kayapınar is arrested.
November 7, 2018: first hearing.
February 11, 2019: aggravated life imprisonment.
October 2020: Ankara Regional Court of Appeal upholds it.
August 2021: Court of Cassation rejects the appeals.