Court gives 12 years in prison in controversial violence case

KONYA

A Turkish court has sentenced 12 years and six months to a man who had been jailed for killing the abusive boyfriend of a woman when trying to save her from getting beaten in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

Kadir Şeker, 20, heard a woman crying when he left a library to go home in February 2019, prompting him to check whether she was fine.

Seeing that she was getting beaten by her abusive boyfriend Özgür Duran in a park, who had 19 criminal records for deliberately injuring, theft, looting and dealing drugs, Şeker approached the scene to warn the man to stop.

Şeker and Duran got into an ugly brawl during which Duran got stabbed in his heart.

After being arrested, the court made the judgment to sentence Şeker with 12 years and six months for “deliberate murder under unjust provocation.”

Making a statement after the hearing, Şeker’s lawyer Mustafa Aladağ stated that they did not expect such a decision and that they would apply to the Appeal Court.

His lawyers have also stated that the incident was not intended and that Şeker only went to help the woman who was being beaten up.

Thousands of social media users have called for justice for Şeker, sending tweets with the hashtag “Kadir is innocent” (#kadirsuçsuzdur), in which people pointed to the fact that he saved another woman from getting killed.

The increasing violence against women and femicides are turning out to grave concern for Turkey. The year 2019 marked the highest number of women killed in a decade.

A total of 297 women have been killed in 2020 so far, according to the figures from “We Will End Femicides Platform,” revealing the severity of the situation.