A court has sentenced former police officer Cemil K. to aggravated life imprisonment for the killing of 22-year-old university student Ayşe Tokyaz last year.
The court convicted Cemil K. of intentionally killing a woman with monstrous intent and torture. It also sentenced him to three years in prison for blackmail and seven years for unlawfully depriving a person of their liberty through force and threats.
Cemil K. was also sentenced to two years in prison and fined 5,000 liras for unlawfully obtaining or disclosing personal data. In a separate case, he received seven years for unlawfully depriving a person of their liberty through force and threats.
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Five other defendants, Oğuz K., Necmettin E., Erhan G., Barış Can A. and Yusuf Ziya S., were each sentenced to five years for destroying, concealing or altering evidence.
İlker Umut U. received seven years and six months for assisting an offender, while Necdet Ç. was sentenced to four years and 15 months for unlawfully obtaining or disclosing personal data.
Cemal A. and Mustafa Enes A. were acquitted of aiding intentional killing. The court ordered the release of Cemal A., who had been held in pretrial detention. Umut U. was also acquitted of abuse of office.
The court declined to apply discretionary sentence reductions under Article 62 of the Turkish Penal Code, citing the convicted defendants' conduct during the trial and their lack of remorse.
What happened?
Tokyaz's body was found in a suitcase by a roadside in İstanbul's Mithatpaşa neighborhood on Jul 13, 2025. Investigators determined that she had last gone to Cemil K.'s home in the Atakent neighborhood of Küçükçekmece, where she was killed and placed in the suitcase before her body was left by a roadside in Eyüpsultan.
Cemil K. had previously been dismissed from the police force over offenses including resisting an officer, threats, insults and intentional injury. The indictment said he had eight previous judicial records, including one suspicious death and three cases involving intentional injury and threats. (EMK/VK)
