Father Gets Life Sentence for 'Honor Killing'
By Cihan News Desk
Saturday, November 25, 2006
zaman.com
zaman.com
A Turkish father has received lifetime imprisonment for killing his daughter, in a trial of 'honor killing' in the northwestern Turkish city of Bursa.
Dumlu Ozcelik, accused of killing his daughter in July, appeared before 4th Bursa High Criminal Court on Friday.
The court first granted the public prosecutor's demand for an aggravated life sentence on charges of murder on the prompting of tradition, also known as an honor killing. The court jury, however, mitigated the punishment considering the good conduct of the accused during the trial, and sentenced Ozcelik, father of two, to a lifetime sentence only.
His sons, Ensar and Karen, had been released in the previous hearing pending their trials and were acquitted by the same court.
In July, Huri Ozcelik, the victim of an honor killing, left her husband and came to her father's home bringing along her two children. Dumlu found his daughter, who eloped with another man, in Ankara.
He first took the 28-year-old woman back home in Bursa and allegedly shot her six times in front of her children.
This verdict might become a precedent for similar lawsuits of honor killings, which are common in Turkey, especially in the eastern and southeastern parts of the country. |
