The prosecutor asked for an aggravated life sentence and additional prison terms over the notorious murder of a woman last year in Istanbul by a samurai sword. Başak Cengiz was killed when the defendant attacked the young architect on a street in Istanbul's Ataşehir district on Nov. 9, 2021. The attack was apparently random and the killer, 27-years-old C.G.B., had claimed he suffered from schizophrenia. The incident had stirred up outcry in the country where femicides claim dozens of lives every year.
In the second hearing of the trial on Friday at an Istanbul court, the prosecutor presented his final request for sentencing, asking the court to sentence C.G.B. to aggravated life imprisonment on charges of premeditated, vicious murder and lesser terms on charges of threat with a weapon. The defendant, who told the court he did not plan the murder and went on killing "the first person he saw on the street after leaving his home," was quiet in the second hearing and expressed his "regret" only. In the first hearing, he told the court that "the devil told him to slay someone." In the new hearing, he said "the devil" was with him "as long as he is awake" and "kept telling him to kill someone."
A forensics report presented to the court in the hearing said the defendant was sane and was not suffering from any mental illness at the time of the murder. The trial was adjourned to an unscheduled date while the court ordered an extension of custody of C.G.B.
The indictment against C.G.B. says the suspect followed Cengiz for a while and ran after her when she started walking faster. When the victim was apparently defenseless, he dealt 12 sword blows. Cengiz succumbed to her wounds at the hospital she was taken to. C.G.B was captured by police shortly after the murder.
Beyhan Cengiz, the mother of the victim, asked the judges to "instill hope" to women "alone in this world where the evil lurks." "Do not let oppressors go free. Give him an exemplary sentence, so no women would be beaten or killed any more." Speaking to the reporters after the hearing, Beyhan Cengiz said her daughter was a victim because she was a woman. (The killer) targeted her specifically," she said.
