Yağmur Önüt case: Why is a woman's murderer protected?

"Man shoots, the state protects" (Credit: csgorselarsiv.org/Meltem Ulusoy)

Click to read the article in Turkish

Good evening, I apologize for bothering you at this hour of the day. I am calling you about the case of your daughter Yağmur Önüt. Can you please summarize the judicial process?

At every hearing, the fairy tale land that I built for myself with Yağmur's pictures and flowers falls apart. [...] I want this nightmare to end now. At every hearing, they kill Yağmur over and over again.

And what do you expect from the hearing on November 23?

All I want is justice. For five years... We come and go to the courthouse and after every hearing, the opposing party, the man who killed my daughter and his family, applauds as if they were celebrating something. As if we were in a competition and they always won...

We have been going through such sad things for five years. I feel a tightness in my chest. My heart is aching, unable to withstand.

She would be 25 years old today

The above speech that I have just shared with you was between me and Sevgi Gülseren. Sevgi's daughter Yağmur Önüt is one of the women who were killed as a result of male violence in Turkey.

Yağmur was a university student. Most recently, she took a break from her relationship with Egemen V. 7 months before.

But for an unknown reason, she came together with him after 7 months. She lost her life with the bullet fired from the pump rifle of Egemen on April 19, 2016. If she had not been killed, she would be 25.

After the incident, V. was indicted by the prosecutor's office. The indictment said, "...that Önüt lost his life as a result of the rifle's firing while V. was joking with Yağmur Önüt at his paternal aunt's house."

In other words, the male suspect was alleging the same thing that we see in several cases of violence against women: "We were just joking around, it was not on purpose, I loved her..."

However, according to what lawyer Esin Yeşilırmak says, there were and there still are suspicions and evidence indicating that Egemen committed this murder knowingly and by planning it beforehand.

Besides, the local court is of the same opinion.

Let me explain.

The İstanbul Bakırköy 9th High Criminal Court sentenced Egemen to 5 years, 10 months in prison on charge of "killing with culpable negligence". Having served only 10 months behind bars, the male perpetrator was released. Önüt's family and their lawyers took the case to the upper court.

Examining the court ruling, the 12th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation demanded that V. be put on trial for "killing with eventual intent."

Does anyone hear the family's voice?

Yağmur's mother Sevgi Gülseren, whose voice we have just heard above, has already set off for the second hearing of the trial to be held in İstanbul tomorrow (November 23).

Very clearly, she wants to leave that courthall with her sense of justice restored this time. Ahead of November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the voice of the Önüt family, who have been suffering and seeking justice for 5 years, must be heard.

Isn't the mother's protest that "Yağmur was killed over and over again at every hearing" extremely rightful?

Reports, evidence, local court ruling, crime scene examination report... Everything says that Egemen V. killed Yağmur. But Egemen is now free outside, moving on with his life freely.

The murderer of a woman is being protected.

Yağmur's mother says:

"Everytime I go to the court, they make me bleed again. I finally heal, but I am devastated again when I go to the court.

"You know, they constantly say at the hearings, 'He was joking, he was joking.' I say, 'Is it really a joke? Will she come up somewhere?' I want this to be over now. I will face the reality of her death this time.

"I cannot stand it anymore. I am trying to occupy myself with something, but no, it does not end. She was my only child and I did not have anything else. My friend, my confidant, my love... She was my childhood, my youth, my life. They have taken away all of them from me.

"I did not yell at Egemen; I only wanted justice to be served. All the organs of my daughter were in pieces, her bones were in pieces. The Forensic Medicine Institution said that it was an 'intentional killing.' The Court of Cassation said that it was an 'intentional killing'. Why is he being protected? I don't know. It is like in the movies.

"I want all of this to end. I am trying to live without thinking about these. They don't think of me, either. The state, which did not protect my daughter, has made me miserable at courthalls while it has not given a sentence to her perpetrator.

"The male perpetrator has never been arrested. I don't believe in justice anymore, I believe in divine justice. I want to see him penalized. No one has heard us at court all this time..."

Courts, please hear this voice now! See the woman's defense in the face of male judiciary! (EMK/SD)