Şule Çet case | Defendants’ lawyer sentenced to prison

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Lawyer Levent Ekmen has been sentenced to 2 years, 6 months in prison for "obtaining and disseminating personal data unlawfully".

Levent Ekmen was the lawyer of the defendants in the trial over the suspicious death of university student Şule Çet, who fell from the 20th floor of a high-rise building in Ankara on May 29, 2018.

While the defendants were sentenced to prison over the death of Şule Çet at the end of the trial, lawyer Levent Ekmen alleged that the incident was not a feminicide but suicide and presented Şule Çet's transcript and prescription as evidence to the court board.

As reported by Diken news website, a criminal complaint was filed against Ekmen on the grounds that he had unlawfully obtained private information about Çet and attempted to influence fair trial. A lawsuit was filed at the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court following this complaint.

While lawyer Levent Ekmen made defense as to the accusations, it was alleged that the documents were given to him by Sayit Aksu, who is the father of Çağatay Aksu, one of the convicted defendants.

The court first ruled that lawyer Ekman should be sentenced to 3 years in prison on charge of "unlawfully obtaining and disseminating personal data." It has then reduced the prison sentence to 2 years, 6 months on the grounds of "his positive behavior" at the hearing.

The court has also ruled that a criminal complaint shall be filed against Çağatay Aksu's father Sayit Aksu and mother Gülümser Aksu.

What happened?

University student Şule Çet suspiciously lost her life after falling off the 20th floor of a high-rise building in Ankara on May 29, 2018. Defendants Çağatay Aksu and Berk Akand had been facing aggravated life sentence on charges of "murder", "sexual assault" and "false imprisonment".

The final hearing of the lawsuit filed into the suspicious death of Şule Çet was held at the Ankara 31st Heavy Penal Court on December 4, 2019.

Announcing its ruling, the court board ruled that arrested defendant Çağatay Aksu should be sentenced to life imprisonment on charge of "murder" and to 12 years, 6 months in prison and Berk Akand, the other arrested defendant, should be sentenced to 18 years, 9 months in prison.

The 1st Penal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice (court of appeals) upheld the prison sentences on June 17, 2020. (EMK/SD)