Eighteen more suspects have been detained as part of the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of university student Gülistan Doku, who has been missing since Jan. 5, 2020, in the eastern province of Tunceli.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said Monday that the latest operation was conducted under the coordination of the Erzurum Chief Public Prosecutor's Office by the Erzurum Provincial Gendarmerie Command across 15 provinces. According to Gürlek, investigators ordered the operation after suspicions emerged that some law enforcement personnel may have tampered with evidence in the case. Authorities searched 21 locations, targeted 19 suspects and detained 18 of them.
The suspects include a police chief, a police superintendent, a chief inspector, an inspector, a senior police officer, 10 police officers, a computer operator and three retired police officers. Procedures for those taken into custody are ongoing.
Doku's family, originally from Diyarbakır, southeastern Türkiye, reported her missing to police on Jan. 6, 2020, after losing contact with the 21-year-old Munzur University student a day earlier. Extensive search efforts failed to locate her.
Based on newly obtained evidence, the Tunceli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into charges including intentional killing, aiding intentional killing, sexual assault, destruction or concealment of evidence, unlawful access to and deletion of data in information systems, deprivation of liberty, failure to report a crime, and harboring an offender. Earlier in the investigation, 32 suspects had been detained.
Among those previously arrested were former Tunceli Governor Tuncay Sonel, his wife Handan Sonel and their son Mustafa Türkay Sonel, former police officer Gökhan Ertok, accused of deleting data from Doku's SIM card, former Tunceli State Hospital chief physician Çağdaş Özdemir, accused of deleting hospital records, former Tunceli Special Provincial Administration employee Erdoğan Elaldı, Celal Altaş, Nurşen Arıkan, Ferhat Hanedan Güven, Doku's boyfriend Zeinal Abakarov, his mother Cemile Yücer, his stepfather, former police officer Engin Yücer, Şükrü Eroğlu, who served as Tuncay Sonel's protection officer, security guard Fatih Özmen, and Mehmet Aca, the owner of an IT company suspected of tampering with Doku's phone.
Several other suspects were released under judicial control with travel bans, while three were released after giving statements to prosecutors.
Fugitive suspect Umut Altaş, who was wanted under a Red Notice, was later detained in the United States.
As part of a separate investigation by the Erzurum Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into former Governor Tuncay Sonel, former Tunceli Police Chief Yılmaz Delen was summoned to testify as a witness.