A man has died in Turkey after he strapped two pillows to his back and asked pals to shoot him with a shotgun so that he could avoid community service.

Zafer Kuzu had been sentenced to community service after he was convicted of causing 'wounding' in the north-eastern Turkish city of Erzurum.

The 24-year-old had allegedly asked his friends to hospitalise him to sidestep having to serve the rest of his sentence.

Zafer Kuzu (pictured) has died after friends accidentally killed him by shooting through two pillows strapped to his back. The shots were only supposed to hospitalise him and the shooters thought the pillows would be enough to stop the penetration of the shotgun slugs, according to local media reports

Kuzu and his two friends, named as 'FY' and 'FYT', decided to use a shotgun for the attempted hospitalisation. Shotguns, like the one pictured above, can be deadly at close range due to the spread of the inner pellets inside the casing and can penetrate tissue, organs, and even bone

Kuzu and two friends decided to use a shotgun and he reportedly strapped two pillows to his back as protection.

According to local media, one of the victim's friends shot Kuzu at close range and the wayward buckshot seriously injured him.

His friends tried to take him to a nearby hospital, but he died before they left the house.

The 24-year-old Kuzu had been sentenced to a community order for the Turkish charge of 'wounding' in Erzurum, a city in north-eastern Turkey. His friends were arrested with 18-year-old 'FY' found guilty and remanded in custody

The police arrived on the scene and arrested one friend identified as 'FYT' and the alleged shooter, named as 18-year-old 'FY.'

The authorities also seized the shotgun and sent Kuzu's body for an autopsy at the Forensic Medicine Institute in Istanbul.

After the two suspects were interrogated, the police referred them to court where 'FY' was found guilty and remanded and 'FYT' was released on bail.