Cat killer to serve time behind bars

ISTANBUL

 A man has received the heaviest penalty someone could get in Turkey for killing an animal: Four months and one day behind bars. The assailant had killed a cat grimly, according to the verdict by an Istanbul court.

“Tomtom,” a cat named after a neighborhood in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district, was brutally killed by Barış Canımana on Sept. 2, 2017.

The incident stirred reaction and the locals in the neighborhood filed an application to the prosecutor’s office with 1,099 signatures.

The perpetrator was given a two-year jail time by the court in May 24.

In a notable decision, the court decided that there was no matter of discretionary matter of extenuation regarding the behaviors of the defendant and his violation of the judicial control procedures.

Canımana will be put in a prison for four months and one day, and he will be released under a judicial control period of one year, according to the verdict.