Womens' groups welcome conviction for student's murder
The rape and murder of university student Sule Cet in Ankara last year spurred activists to demand justice. Some say even harsh sentencing will not stem the rising murder rate of women.
A Turkish court has sentenced two men to prison for the rape and murder of 23-year-old university student Sule Cet in a case that galvanized women’s groups outraged by the country’s high rates of violence against women and the widespread impunity of the men who commit it.
Cet plunged to her death from the 20th floor of an Ankara office tower in May 2018. On Wednesday, judges jailed Cagatay Aksu for life for raping and killing her as well as false imprisonment and found his accomplice Berk Akand was an accessory to the murder, giving him 19 years in prison. Applause and chants of “long live female solidarity” broke out in the courtroom after the decision was announced.
