Aggravated life sentence for the murderer of 'Diyarbakırlı Ramazan Hoca'

In Istanbul's Fatih district, Erkan Baykut, who stabbed and killed Ramazan Pişkin—known on social media as 'Diyarbakırlı Ramazan Hoca'—at the tea house he operated, has been sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment.

The hearing for the case filed against Baykut for "intentional killing" was held at the Istanbul 3rd High Criminal Court. The defendant Erkan Baykut, Ramazan Pişkin's brother Mehmet Pişkin, and the lawyers for both parties were in attendance.

Before the verdict was announced, the defendant was asked for his final statement. In his final statement, the detained defendant Erkan Baykut said, "I planned and committed the murder because I mistook Ramazan Pişkin for someone else. I thought he was an Afghan national named Saboor Muradi. He had introduced me to drugs when I was 17 and made me do things too terrible to describe. He tried to sell my soul to the devil. These are a Masonic organization, an Illuminati gang. Because of this, my mental health is not good. I am embarrassed before his family. I realize that Ramazan Pişkin was an innocent person, I realize that he fought for the values he believed in for the Islamic world, and I regret it."

AGGRAVATED LIFE IMPRISONMENT

Announcing its verdict, the court sentenced the defendant Erkan Baykut to aggravated life imprisonment for the crime of 'premeditated intentional killing'. It was noted that the defendant did not show remorse during the hearings, and therefore no good conduct reduction was applied.

HE HAD SAID, 'I PLANNED THE MURDER IN MY HEAD'

Speaking at a previous hearing, Baykut stated that he did not accept the prosecutor's opinion and claimed to have a mental illness, saying the following regarding the murder:

"I saw Ramazan Pişkin's video on social media 3-4 months before the day of the incident. Later, I had seen him passing in front of the shop 3-4 days prior. The victim was inside the shop. I knew it was close to my father's shop. When I saw him on social media, I planned the murder in my head. I planned the murder 4 months ago. I saw him 4-5 days before the incident at a distance close to my father's workplace. That is how my suspicions began. I put him in the place of the people who persecuted me. He looked like them. I was under the influence of drugs. I had bought the knife 2 months before the incident. I had bought the knife to kill the victim."