BRITISH police are in north Cyprus to assist in the trial of a Turkish Cypriot man accused in connection with the death of a man in the UK.
The trial of 39 year-old Kemal Kemalzade centres around the death of 47 year-old Colin Salt in Stoke-on-Trent in December 2000, when it is alleged that Kemalzade colluded with his brother Cinar and sister-in-law Sibel to burn down the couple’s newsagents to gain £170,000 sterling worth of insurance money. Salt was in an apartment above the newsagents and was seriously injured as fire spread through the building and led to an explosion. He died three weeks later from his injuries.
Cinar and Sibel Kemalzade were both sentenced to 11 years in prison for manslaughter and fraud in 2001. Kemal Kemalzade, who is believed to have assisted the couple, evaded arrest and came to north Cyprus in June of that year, where he has lived ever since. He was arrested in October 2005 by Turkish Cypriot police, when British police requested that they take action against him.
Because there are no extradition laws between the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, it was decided between the UK government and the Turkish Cypriot authorities that Kemalzade be tried in north Nicosia.
The trial began on Thursday with British police present to assist in the trial and give evidence on the case. They brought with them a truck full of evidence that included parts of the burnt out newsagents shop.
Kemalzade appeared before the court on Thursday, but declined an opportunity to make a statement. A statement he had made earlier to police in Cyprus was, however, read out to the court. In it he said he “no recollection” of the incident in which Salt died. The statement also recorded how Kemalzade was asked to account for burn marks on his face, which he said he had received from a skin removal cream he had been using to remove facial scars he said he had acquired during a fight he had had in the UK.
This is not the first time British police have joined forces with their Turkish Cypriot counterparts. In 1999 a north Nicosia court sentenced Ozgay Cevat Yorgun to 14 years in jail after he was found guilty of the murder of Michael Menson in a racially-inspired attack in the UK.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the British High Commission insisted its help in securing a trial for Kemalzade was in no way politically motivated, and that it did not imply political recognition of the breakaway state in the north.
“The British government does not and will not recognise the TRNC. Nothing that the UK law enforcement authorities are doing affects this view,” the spokesman said, adding: “Justice comes first. This is a very nasty crime, and in the interest of justice alone we are helping the Turkish Cypriot authorities.”
A spokesman for the Turkish Cypriot authorities echoed the British statement by saying, “We have no political aims or expectations. Our aim is to see justice done.”
Asked why Kemalzade could not be extradited to the UK to stand trial there, the spokesman said, “The accused is a TRNC citizen which means it would not be lawful for us to extradite him.”
The trial continues on Monday.
