Aggravated life sentence sought for deadly Esenyurt raid suspects

ISTANBUL

An Istanbul prosecutor’s office has sought aggravated life imprisonment for the four suspects in the case of a deadly shop raid in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district, which sparked a significant public outcry in July.

After financial problems arose between two families, leading to hostility, an armed attack took place at the shop in Esenyurt, and two people, Yusuf Emre Erzen and Batuhan Bayındır, lost their lives.

Determining separate sentences for the killed individuals, the prosecutor’s office demanded aggravated life imprisonment for each of the suspects over the killing of Erzen.

According to the indictment, for the death of Bayındır, a life sentence was requested, and the defendants will also face up to 20 years in prison for the charges of threats and armed assault.

In their initial statements, the suspects, as per the indictment, claimed that they did not harbor any intent to commit murder, asserting that they arrived in the shop to discuss and resolve previously arising issues.

With the dissemination of the incident's camera footage, the attack was widely covered in the media, shedding light on the increasing crime incidents in the Esenyurt district.

Following the murder, concerns about the surge in individual armament in the country also came to the forefront. Only 4 million out of more than 40 million firearms in Türkiye are licensed, with one in every two people possessing a gun, an expert earlier said.