A Turkish court on Saturday sentenced to life imprisonment three members of the family of an eight-year-old girl whose murder in the province of Diyarbakir shocked the country. The body of Narin Guran, who had been missing for 19 days, was found last September in a bag in a river about a kilometer from the village where she lived with her family.
After a tense day of hearing, the Diyarbakir Court sentenced Narin’s mother, older brother and uncle to life in prison for “deliberate collaborative murder”, according to the verdict obtained by the journalist present at the court. The judge sentenced another suspect, Nevzat Bahtiyar, who confessed to the murder, to four years and six months in prison.
As part of the investigation opened by the Diyarbakir Prosecutor’s Office, 21 people were placed in police custody. Narin’s two parents and older brother were among those arrested. “The sad news of Narin, who was brutally murdered, has deeply hurt us all,” responded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on X, pledging to follow “personally the judicial process to ensure that those who took Narin from us receive the severest punishment they deserve.
His disappearance on August 21 caused a stir in Türkiye, with several well-known personalities joining a campaign on social networks called “Find Narin”. Narin’s uncle was arrested following “strong suspicion” of “murder” and “deprivation of liberty” against him.
Calls for rallies to protest Narin’s murder had been launched by feminist organizations in several cities in Türkiye.
