16-year prison sentence for mosque murder defendant with provocation reduction
A verdict has been reached in the trial of an individual who killed his neighbor, with whom he had previously argued, inside a mosque while the victim was praying in Kayseri. The court, which applied an 'unjust provocation' reduction to the defendant who was being tried for intentional homicide, sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
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Yasin Şanlı, who killed his neighbor Şevki Tanrıkulu, with whom he had a long-standing feud, while he was praying in a mosque, appeared before the Kayseri 2nd High Criminal Court for the final hearing. Lawyers for Şevki Tanrıkulu's family stated that witness testimonies contradicted video footage, arguing that the testimonies were intended to secure an 'unjust provocation' reduction, and requested that the defendant be tried for premeditated murder with monstrous intent. The lawyers also requested that Yasin Şanlı's mother be tried as an instigator of the murder.
The prosecution requested the rejection of the demand to try Yasin Şanlı's mother as an instigator, while requesting that the defendant be tried under articles involving premeditated murder and murder with monstrous intent.
"There is no side of this act to defend"
The detained defendant Yasin Şanlı said, "There is no side of my act to defend. I accept everything. But I do not accept the situation of premeditation or monstrous intent."
Stating that he has a military background, Şanlı claimed that if he had planned the murder, he would not have killed the victim inside a mosque, thereby turning him into a hero, and added, "If I had planned it, it would have gone down in legal literature."
Defendant asked for forgiveness from the victim's wife
Defendant Şanlı requested that the request for additional time be rejected, saying, "I want to serve the sentence for my act and reunite with my children. There were even people among the victim's relatives who testified for me. If I am a monster, why are people testifying for me and wanting to help me? I want the requests for additional time from both sides' lawyers to be rejected. May Reyhan (the wife of the murdered Şevki Tanrıkulu) forgive me. She is not here, but both of our homes have been destroyed."
Finding Yasin Şanlı guilty of "intentional homicide," the court panel ruled that the crime was committed under unjust provocation, reduced the sentence to 16 years, and decided that the defendant's detention should continue.
In the incident that took place on July 19 last year on Metin Yüksel Street in the Selçuklu neighborhood of the Melikgazi district, Şevki Tanrıkulu was stabbed to death by Yasin Şanlı, with whom he allegedly had a prior feud, while praying in the mosque; the incident was captured moment by moment by the security camera inside the mosque.